View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. Archive content
June 2, 2005updated 22 Nov 2022 3:35pm

Gazette wins right to name mother of truants

By Press Gazette

Two
Western Gazette reporters have been victorious in overturning a Section
39 order, allowing them to name a mother who was prosecuted for
allowing her children to play truant from school.

Tom Bevan, the
Western Gazette’s Yeovil reporter, and Richard Birch, reporter for its
Crewkerne edition, challenged the order in a case which involved her
two 14-year-old sons not turning up for school.

They argued that
not only was the story in the public interest, but also that the mother
had initially approached them to put her side of the story. The pair
outlined principles highlighted by Lord Justice Simon Brown in R v
Crown Court at Winchester including “the prospect of being named in
court with the accompanying disgrace is a powerful deterrent”.

Their
success, which allowed the paper to run its front-page story in the
Yeovil and Crewkerne editions, follows a previous quashing of a section
39 order by the Western Gazette in a case involving a young baby who
was taken on a pub crawl by his mother.

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network