Legal News

The Court of Appeal has ruled that the names of suspects arrested by police should be made public before they are formally charged.

It is thought that naming suspects can encourage witnesses to come forward – Freedom of Information campaigners against secrecy in the police force have also been pressing for more transparency in the naming of suspects.

In the ruling on Friday (01/08/14), judges rejected an appeal relating to an application for a privacy injunction, brought by a man who was arrested over sex abuse allegations who was never charged.

The Daily Mail reports, however, his identity was revealed in a court case involving others charged with sex abuse offences – and newspaper reporters had told him that once the trial had finished, they intended to report his arrest on suspicion of child sex abuse charges.

His application for a privacy injunction was made on the basis that, if his arrest were reported in the media, he would be labelled and “stigmatised as a paedophile”.

However, Court of Appeal judges said that the public understood that if a person were arrested, it did not mean they were guilty.

The man’s request for a privacy injunction had been rejected in 2103, but he appealed against that decision. The Court of Appeal upheld the ruling, however.

The man’s legal representative had said that revealing his identity as a suspect breached his privacy – and that the public do not realise that people who are arrested are innocent until found guilty.

At the Court of Appeal, Lady Justice Sharp said:

“Most members of the public understand the presumption of innocence – and are able to distinguish between the position of someone who has been arrested and someone who has been charged and someone who has been convicted of a criminal offence.

“The fact of his arrest and other associated information has been extensively referred to in open court – including in public rulings given at criminal trials – and the Respondents [in this case the Press] want to report this,” she said.

There have been calls in the past for victims in sex abuse cases to face the same treatment as those facing charges of sex offences – but victims of rape and other sex offences are usually allowed to remain anonymous unless they agree to waive their right to anonymity.

Some campaigners have called for those who face sex abuse charges to also remain anonymous until convicted.

Police used to liase with reporters over the reporting of criminal cases and would confirm whether a suspect had been arrested, however.

At criminal trials, reporting may also be restricted – recently there were reporting restrictions ordered by the court in the trial of the killers of Lee Rigby.

To breach a reporting restriction – such as naming a victim who has a right to anonymity, or speculate on the details of a court case in a way that might prejudice the case while it is being heard – would constitute contempt of court and a reporter could be jailed as a result.

The report published after the Leveson Inquiry recommended that suspects in criminal cases should only have their identities revealed “in exceptional circumstances”.

The man at the centre of last week’s Appeal Court hearing is to appeal to the Supreme Court, which is the UK’s highest court.

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