09 January 2026
After the Southport murders and the misinformation that followed, contempt of court law has come under intense scrutiny. In this week's NLJ, Lawrence McNamara and Lauren Schaefer of the Law Commission unpack proposals aimed at restoring clarity without sacrificing fair trial rights
The headline recommendation is deceptively simple: criminal proceedings should become ‘active’ at charge, not arrest. That shift would give authorities more freedom to counter dangerous falsehoods in the critical post-arrest window.
Once proceedings are active, however, the existing test remains firmly in place, with no blanket categories of information deemed always safe or unsafe to publish. Context, not checklists, is king.
The commission rejects a broad public interest defence, warning it would erode jury trial protections. Instead, it calls for sharper guidance on when prejudice is merely incidental.
The result is a careful recalibration, not a rewrite, of a sensitive area of law.
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