View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. Archive content
July 29, 2007

Delayed rape trial is scrapped

By Press Gazette

A rape trial which was postponed after an article about the defendant appeared in a national Sunday newspaper the day before the case was due to begin, has been put on hold again.

Peter Voisey, 35, of Blyth, Northumberland, was jailed last year after being convicted of snatching a little girl from her bath on Tyneside then sexually assaulting her and dumping her in a freezing lane.

Voisey was due to go on trial at Doncaster Crown Court on 16 April under his other name, Peter Smith, on an unrelated rape charge when an article featuring him appeared in The People newspaper. Journalists were unaware that Peter Voisey and Peter Smith were the same person.

The story alleged that Voisey was part of a paeodophile ring, which included other well-known offenders in top-security Wakefield prison.

The day after the article was published Voisey appeared at Doncaster Crown Court for the first day of a trial on a rape charge – and was told the trial was not going ahead at that stage.

Robert Woodcock, prosecuting, said: ‘The publication of that article at this time has such a prejudicial potential to the fairness of these proceedings continuing today and that the listing must therefore be vacated for that reason.”

Judge Jackie Davies agreed to the application and relisted the trial for this week. However, the judge stayed the proceedings after hearing arguments that Voisey could not get a fair trial for reasons unrelated to the article which had appeared in The People.

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