View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. Comment
April 8, 2016

Court of Appeal banned murder trial reports from appearing on Facebook for fear of prejudicial comments

By Cleland Thom

The Court of Appeal banned the media from carrying reports of a murder trial on their Facebook pages.

Editors were warned that they could face prosecution under the Contempt of Court Act 1981 if they do not comply.

The ruling, which was made in February but can only now be reported, is believed to be the first time a court has specifically restricted social media to avoid comments prejudicing a trial.

The court issued the ban on coverage of a trial of two girls charged with the murder of Angela Wrightson, 39, who was battered to death in her home in Hartlepool.

The girls, were 13 and 14 at the time of the attack at her Hartlepool home in December 2014.

The appeal judges made the order against a group of nine media organisations.

The organisations were told they must:

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
  • Not publish a report of the trial on their Facebook profile, or Facebook pages.
  • Disable their website message boards.

An original trial of two girls for the murder of Ms Wrightson was halted at Teeside Crown Court in July last year following a wave of comment and abuse on social media. See the report

The girls cannot be named for legal reasons.

Some media remove archived content, or message boards from reports of crime and court cases, either voluntarily, or following a request from the Attorney General, police or lawyers involved in a case.

But I believe this is the first time the Court of Appeal has issued a specific ban.

Cleland Thom is a consultant and trainer in media law

Topics in this article :

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