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Barrister’s gagging order under threat

A gagging order preventing a barrister convicted of a crime from being identified could be lifted by the High Court later this week.



The barrister, known as “Mr C”, was convicted of harassing a former partner in 2006. He received a conditional discharge and a restraining order.



He appealed to the High Court, which ruled yesterday that the barrister had been rightly convicted, but granted him anonymity to protect his children.



“The Times” and “The Daily Telegraph” are two of the newspapers appealing against the decision, spurred on by a Court of Appeal ruling on Friday.



In R v Croydon Crown Court ex p Trinity Mirror [2008] EWCA Crim 50, a group of media organisations succeeded in overturning a gagging order designed to protect the children of a man, Raymond Cortis, convicted of downloading child pornography.



Sir Igor Judge, President of the Queen’s Bench Division, said: “In our judgment it is impossible to over-emphasise the importance to be attached to the ability of the media to report criminal trials. In simple terms this represents the embodiment of the principle of open justice in a free country”.



He went on to say: “It is sad, but true, that the criminal activities of a parent can bring misery, shame and disadvantage to their innocent children”.

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