Cases

R v Swansea Crown Court, ex parte BBC

Facts

The BBC filmed a documentary series about Barnardo's work with young people entitled ‘Somebody’s Child’. One episode featured a 17 year-old girl, S, who had been filmed over a period of 7 months. Towards the end of the filming, S was arrested for robbery. The BBC filmed S talking about the potential consequences of the offence. During the criminal proceedings, an order was made under s.39 CYPA 1933, prohibiting the publication of particulars identifying S as the defendant. S was convicted and imprisoned. Upon release from prison S, who was still 17, wished the programme to be shown in full, including the parts of it that identified her as the defendant in the criminal proceedings. The BBC applied for the s.39 order to be lifted.

Also