08 May 2015
Aitken v Director of Public Prosecutions [2015] EWHC 1079 (Admin), [2015] All ER (D) 180 (Apr)
The appellant was the editor of a regional paper which published a report in breach of a reporting restriction order imposed under s 39 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933. The judge rejected the appellant’s submission that he had no case to answer, after which he pleaded guilty and was fined. The appellant appealed by way of case stated. The Divisional Court, in dismissing the appeal, held that the editor of a newspaper did not, as a matter of law, fall outside the scope of the expression “any person who publishes” in s 39(2) of the Act.
