Legal Update: Court report - Injunction restricts reporting onchildren
Coram Children's Legal Centre
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Case name: Re J (A Child) Case number (2013) EWHC 2694 (Fam)
Judge: Sir James Munby, P
Location: The High Court of Justice
J is the youngest in a family of four children, all of whom have been subject to care proceedings. J's father has posted names and photos of all children on the internet, accompanied by abusive and threatening language directed at local authorities in the protection system.
On the day of J's birth, the father posted video of the emergency protection order online, referring to J by name. The local authority demanded its removal as a breach of Section 97 of the Children Act 1989, and applied for a contra mundum injunction to prohibit the reporting of information relating to J (including the names of professionals) up to the child's 18th birthday.
In the judgment, Sir James Munby established that s.97 does prohibit publication of "material which is intended, or likely, to identify" the child for the duration of the care order. This "automatic restraint" can be relaxed or expanded based on a "balancing exercise" considering the various rights at stake. The order may also be expanded to protect the anonymity of other participants in the process.
In considering whether to expand the order, Munby emphasised the importance of transparency in order to maintain public confidence in the justice system. He determined that the rights of the children involved superseded this interest, and expanded the order, but allowed for the distribution of the video without the child's name.
