Reports by Dominic Ponsford and Ian reeves
Cameras could be regularly allowed into the Court of Appeal within two or three years, according to ITN’s inhouse legal expert John Battle.
He believes the seven-week trial of TV cameras in the Court of Appeal, which starts on 1 November, is likely to lead to much wider filming of court proceedings.
The relevant sections of the Criminal Justice Act 1925 and the Contempt of Court Act 1981 would have to be repealed for this to happen.
The cameras are to work on a similar system to the televising of Parliament.
Judges are to have the power to halt filming whenever they see fit, witnesses will not be filmed giving evidence and the resulting footage is not going to be broadcast.
Battle said he believes the consequences of the trial will be as follows: “The filming of the Court of Appeal will happen quite quickly, in the next two or three years.
“I’ve never met anyone who has said they don’t want cameras in the Court of Appeal.
“In the medium term, cameras could be allowed in the High Court. In the long term, we could see the televising of trials – not necessarily full trials but parts of them, such as the judge summing up or the prosecution opening the case”
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