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September 28, 2006updated 22 Nov 2022 9:08pm

Wakefield Express reporter has Section 39 order overturned

By Press Gazette

Wakefield Express reporter Emma Hakier has had a Section 39 order overturned on a truancy case.

At the original hearing, which involved a couple's child who had missed 213 days from school, no reporting restriction had been imposed.

The order was imposed at a pre-trial hearing the following week, although Hakier had already reported the defendants' names, addresses and not guilty pleas as well as the age of their children and the name of their school.

Hakier made representations in court that the information was already in the public domain, that it was in the public interest and would act as a deterrent to other parents and children.

She argued magistrates must have a good reason to impose Section 39 orders. Presiding magistrate and head of the Wakefield bench, Rod Young, said: "We cannot see any adverse welfare outcome for the two children by preventing the full reporting of this case.

"We feel that the public interest in the efforts of the educational system, and the prosecution outcome, outweigh any potential welfare issue and are prepared to make an order to lift the restrictions."

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