Lifetime anonymity orders protecting NI defendants to be contested after David Walliams ruling

Detailed summary

Author failed in court bid to block media naming him over sexual misconduct allegations amid claims he would self-harm ...

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.

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.

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.

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