Cases

Re Stedman & Patten (& Others)

Held

Refusing the application:

(1) Balancing the respective Article 8 and Article 10 rights of Chantelle, Alfie and the media, continued restriction of the information that Alfie was not the father could not be justified. Although there was evidence that the media attention was causing distress to Chantelle, it was in Alfie's interests and the wider public interest that the record be set straight;

(2) Similarly the restriction sought to prohibit further publication of images that had previously been within the public domain exception could not be justified. There was nothing inherently invasive about publication of the photographs; Chantelle was more concerned with the articles that accompanied the photographs; and

(3) In respect of both limbs, the Court had to guard against slipping into playing the role of King Canute. There had been such widespread publication of both the DNA result and the images that in practical terms there was no longer anything which the law could protect.

Also