Clause 2 - Anonymity of defendant in rape etc. cases
Sexual Offences Bill [Lords]
4:00 pm
Mr Roger Gale (North Thanet, Conservative)
With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:
Amendment No. 24, in
clause 2, page 1, line 17, leave out from 'enjoy' to end of line 18 and insert
'a right to anonymity until charged.'.
New clause 1—Anonymity of suspects and defendants in certain cases—
'(1) Where an allegation has been made that a person has committed an offence listed in Schedule 3 to the Sex Offenders Act 1997, no matter relating to that person shall be included in any publication if it is likely to lead members of the public to identify that person as the person who is alleged to have committed the offence, until and if that person is charged.
(2) If any matter is published or included in a relevant programme in contravention of subsection (1), the following persons, namely—
(a) in the case of a publication in a newspaper or periodical, any proprietor, any editor and any publisher of the newspaper or periodical;
(b) in the case of any other publication, the person who publishes it; and
(c) in the case of matter included in a relevant programme, any body corporate which is engaged in providing the service in which the programme is included and any person having functions in relation to the programme corresponding to those of an editor of a newspaper,
shall be guilty of an offence.'.