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Contempt cases against two daily’s opened in Milly Dowler’s murder case (13 June 2012)

Date: 13/06/2012
Duncan Lewis, Legal News Solicitors, Contempt cases against two daily’s opened in Milly Dowler’s murder case

Contempt of court action against Daily Mail and Daily Mirror over the coverage of the conviction of Levi Bellfield for the murder of Milly Dowler has been allowed to be re opened after the Attorney General brought proceedings against the papers.
The jury was still considering a separate charge that Bellfield had attempted to abduct a 11 year old girl. But meanwhile the papers covered the conviction due to which the case was discharged after the verdict was considered prejudicial.
Accusation of an attempt to abduct Rachel Cowles, then aged 11, just a day before the snatching of Milly, was pending on Bellfield.
Defence counsel argued that the jury could no longer reach a fair verdict on this outstanding charge because of some of the coverage of the case following Bellfield's conviction.
Judges asked the juries to follow the simple rule of delivering a verdict on the defendant based on the evidence which was heard in court. The judges also told the media at that time they had the legal duty to report only what was heard in court to avoid prejudicing the jury.
Last November at the High Court, the newspapers presented their case saying that their reports would not have posed substantial risk of serious prejudice to the jury's consideration of the outstanding charge.
But the contempt proceedings were permitted by Lord Justice Moore-Bick and Mr Justice Bean, who had to decide whether Attorney General Dominic Grieve QC had an "arguable" case against the papers.
The hearing at London's High Court is set to take two days.

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