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May 30, 2002updated 17 May 2007 11:30am

PA wins right to name accused in murder case

By Press Gazette

A judge has overturned a ban on the press naming and giving the address of a man accused of killing seven members of the same family, after a challenge by the Press Association.

The ruling was made at Bradford Crown Court as Shakiel Amir Shazad and Nazar Hussain, both from Huddersfield, appeared at a preliminary hearing.

Both men are charged with murdering five sisters, their mother and their uncle, who died in a house fire on 12 May in the town.

An eighth person, the girls’ grandmother, died later in hospital after Hussain and Shazad had been charged.

Huddersfield magistrates made an order under Section 11 of the Contempt of Court Act, banning publication of Shazad’s name and address after a hearing in camera.

At the Crown Court, his solicitors applied to have the anonymity ruling extended.

But Judge James Stewart said he had rejected the application after reading a submission from Press Association copy editor Mike Dodd.

He said: "I have considered the application and also the submissions of the Press Association. I’m quite satisfied that I see no basis to depart from general practice."

He refused the application and said both defendants could be fully identified.

Both men were remanded in custody to appear at Leeds Crown Court on 20 June. A third man has also been charged with murder.

By Jon Slattery

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