A weekly paper in Hampshire has blocked an attempt to prevent it naming a woman who kidnapped a friend and left her bloodied and semi-naked in the New Forest.

New Milton Advertiser and Lymington Times reporter Carolyn Dench successfully challenged a request made at Southampton Crown Court to grant Jessica Smith anonymity because she was 16 years-old at the time of the offence.

After initially agreeing to the request from Smith’s barrister, Jamie Porter, to impose a reporting restriction, Judge Peter Ralls QC, reversed his decision after Dench pointed out that the woman’s name had already been published in previous court reports.