Three lifetime anonymity orders granted to offenders in Northern Ireland courts are being challenged by a journalist following the unprecedented ruling in the David Walliams case.
Tanya Fowles has notified the Lady Chief Justice to overturn the reporting bans obtained by the individuals, two of whom are convicted paedophiles.
In all three cases the defendants threatened to self-harm or take their own lives if their identifies were published.
Applications for reporting restriction orders “used to pop up a couple of times a year” but “now it’s one a week”, said the Co Armagh-based Fowles, who has worked as a court reporter for more than 30 years.
RM Block
“Self-harm threats top the list.”
Fowles said last week’s legal ruling dismissing a bid by Walliams to block the media naming him over sexual misconduct allegations had “upended” everything.
The comedian and bestselling author, who was referred to in court as “PPT” and described as a “well-known individual”, attempted to secure a permanent injunction to stop the media outlets, The Guardian and ITV News, from publishing allegations about him.
Lawyers representing Walliams argued that publishing the allegations was “highly likely” to lead to an attempt to take his own life.
The high court judge accepted there was a genuine and grave risk of suicide but ruled that the threat did not provide a proper legal basis for restraining publication.
Until 2023 there were seven lifetime anonymity orders imposed in the UK.
In some cases, this involved those released from custody with new identities such as the child killers Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, who tortured and murdered two-year-old Jamie Bulger in Merseyside in 1993.
The number has since risen following the granting of three separate orders in cases at Newry Crown Court, Antrim Crown Court and Ballymena Magistrates’ Court.
“We have put the Lady Chief Justice on notice but we have challenged all three orders previously. We were told we had no grounds,” said Fowles, who has been recognised by The Chartered Institute of Journalists for challenging anonymity orders.
“No matter what we did we couldn’t shift it. As a matter of fact, I thought there was a rule that after a year the reporting ban would lapse,” she said.
“So I went back after a year and a week in each case and I was still told: ‘No.’ I was told to go to the Court of Appeal.
“We actually got the reporting ban lifted in the Newry case and then the accused told his lawyer he was going to leave the courthouse and run out in front of a bus. My immediate reaction was: ‘That’s an immediate section,’” added Fowles, referring to the detention of a prisoner to hold them legally in a mental health facility.
“We have argued all along this has got to stop.”
Fowles said she followed the “PPT” case in London closely.
“From the moment I heard about self-harm, I thought it was going to be very interesting,” she said.
In challenging the court bans in Northern Ireland, journalists make comparisons to defendants facing coercive control, domestic abuse and catfishing charges, according to Fowles.
“In these cases, the accused often threatens to kill themselves or self-harm if their victim leaves them,” she said.
“These defendants are being charged with blackmail.
“We looked up the definition of blackmail, which is making an unwarranted demand. That’s what is being done to us: ‘You print my name, I’ll kill myself.’”
There are about 10 cases in which reporting restriction orders on naming the defendant have been imposed, according to Fowles.
“There’s just been too many and it’s all for the same reasons,” she said.
“I hope will it will a bit easier when the [remaining cases] reach sentencing.”
