Contempt of Court for Sun, Mirror

(Posted on 29/07/11)

Two publications, The Sun and the Daily Mirror, have been found guilty of contempt of court regarding their coverage of the Joanna Yeates murder and subsequent arrest of Chris Jefferies. Three judges, Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Owen ruled both publications' efforts of covering the arrest earlier this year resulted in substantial risks in the path to justice.

If the rulings are the same, the fines are different. The Sun was fined £18,000 while The Daily Mirror is being forced to pay substantially more, to the tune of £50,000.

Many may recall Dominic Grieve, attorney general who went up against the two newspapers, as saying the media should proceed with caution so that prejudice against the trial wouldn't be an issue. The first suspect arrested, Chris Jefferies, was later cleared of any involvement. Eventually, Vincent Tabak confessed to the crime and was charged with manslaughter. He's currently in custody and awaiting trial.

At the heart of this particular lawsuit were three articles, one published in the Sun and the other two published in The Daily Mirror. They were accused of breaching the Contempt of Court Act and were found to have posed a risk to future proceedings with this murder. Among other things, Jefferies was accused of being a peeping tom and he was referred to as "the killer" of Yeates. The Sun published a story suggesting Jefferies was obsessed with death and dying and he was accused of having a macabre fascination with the act of dying.

Meanwhile, it was also just announced by Jefferies solicitor in the UK, Louis Charalambous, that he has been awarded an "impressive" libel payout in his defamation suit. Perhaps even better than the impressive monetary award, the newspapers who covered the trial and did so in an unethical manner extended their apologies to the former person of interest.