Source: All England Reporter
Publisher Citation: [2009] All ER (D) 175 (Jun)
Neutral Citation: [2009] UKHL 34
Court: House of Lords
Judge:

Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, Lord Hope of Craighead, Lord Walker of Gestingthorpe, Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood and Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury
Representation Gavin Millar QC and Anthony Hudson (instructed by the BBC Litigation Department) for the BBC.
  Lord Pannick QC and David Pievsky (instructed by the Treasury Solicitors) as advocate to the court.
Judgment Dates: 17 June 2009

Catchwords

Criminal law - Defendant - Anonymity - Defendant being acquitted of rape following trial judge's ruling that DNA evidence crucial to prosecution case inadmissible - Attorney General referring case initially to Court of Appeal and upon further reference to House of Lords - House of Lords holding DNA evidence not inadmissible but making order preventing publication or broadcast of circumstances of acquittal and possibilities of future retrial save on an entirely anonymous basis - Application to discharge anonymity order - Balance between right to private and family life and right to freedom of publication - s 35 - s 36 - Criminal Appeal (Reference of Points of Law) Rules 1973 - European Convention on Human Rights, arts 6, 8, 10.

The Case

Criminal law Defendant. The House of Lords ruled that the acquitted defendant's right to privacy under art8 of the European Convention on Human Rights did not outweigh the BBC's right to freedom of expression under art10. His right to his reputation did not outweigh that of the BBC to imperil that reputation by their proposed broadcast of his acquittal, a broadcast of undoubted public interest. Accordingly, the anonymity order, which had arisen as a result of an Attorney General's Reference to the House of Lords, was discharged.

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