Clause 69 - Restrictions on reporting
Criminal Justice Bill
3:45 pm
Mr Dominic Grieve (Beaconsfield, Conservative)
We come to the question of restrictions on reporting. Some play has been made by the Government of the fact that a number of those who responded to representations said that it is essential that reporting restrictions be imposed on Court of Appeal proceedings, so that they do not become widely publicised and give rise to the public concluding that the court has arrived at a conclusion that could prejudice a jury's subsequent consideration of the case were a retrial to be ordered.
I confess that I assumed that ordinary reporting restrictions would apply, but I was struck by the Minister's saying that the procedure for retrial would not apply north of the border. The Scottish Executive have indicated to the Government that they have no desire to see the Scottish legal system altered to cater for the possibility of retrials. Therefore, the issue arises of the operation of reporting restrictions on Scottish newspapers—and not only on their publication but on their distribution in the rest of the United Kingdom.
I would be grateful for clarification, because I infer from the restrictions on reporting in clause 69—and from the offences in connection with reporting in clause 70—that it would be possible for a Scottish journalist to attend Court of Appeal proceedings and report them verbatim in a Scottish newspaper, and that nothing could be done about it. Is that a correct inference?