Court lifts anonymity order on Worcester triple-child killer following media pressure

An order granting anonymity to a killer who committed "exceptionally horrific crimes" was overturned by the High Court today.

The murderer known as "M" can now be publicly identified as triple child-killer David McGreavy, who impaled the bodies of his three young victims on railings.

McGreavy, now 62, was jailed for life in 1973 for killing the children he was babysitting at a house in Gillam Street, Worcester, and is one of the country's most notorious and longest-serving prisoners.

The gagging order was made in response to fears that the killer's own life was in danger.

But Justice Secretary Chris Grayling and media organisations argued that it was legally flawed and wrongly prevented the public from knowing the full facts of the case.

"The full facts are exceptionally horrific by even the standard of murders," said counsel for the media, Guy Vassall-Adams, had told the High Court.

The order restricted the media to saying they were "three sadistic murders – but that doesn't even give you the half of it", said Mr Vassall-Adams.

Today Lord Justice Pitchford, sitting in London with Mr Justice Simon, ruled that the anonymity order must be discharged.

The children were aged four, two and nine months. They were killed in different ways by the man who was at the time a lodger with the childrens' parents.

Topics in this article : Media Law