A Northern Ireland law banning the naming of suspected sex offenders until they are charged has been revoked in a court judgment hailed as a victory for press freedom.
The law, which came into effect last year, granted anonymity for life and 25 years after death to anyone suspected of sexual offences who had not been charged.
Media groups representing a number of publications including the Guardian and the Belfast Telegraph challenged the act, claiming it criminalised investigative journalism into sexual abuse, and had the absurd effect that no one in Northern Ireland could say that Jimmy Savile was a paedophile.
In a ruling on Friday in the high court in Belfast, Mr Justice Humphreys said the act was unlawful because it was incompatible with the right to freedom of expression under the European convention on human rights. He also ruled that the Northern Ireland assembly had failed to debate the issue of public interest when passing the law.
In a judicial review in April, the Northern Ireland editor of the Belfast Telegraph, Sam McBride, told the court the act stifled an investigation into alleged assault by a clergyman who continues to hold a senior role in the church.
He also pointed out that because anonymity applied for 25 years after death, the publication of anything that could lead to the identification of a known sex offender who had died less than 25 years ago without being charged would be a criminal offence in Northern Ireland, but nowhere else in the UK.
The court heard that victims of sexual assault could be jailed if they named their suspected abusers. It was also told that naming high-profile figures accused of sexual assault before charge, including Rolf Harris and Russell Brand, encouraged other alleged victims to come forward.
The Northern Ireland government told the court the law had been designed to protect suspects from reputational damage, as recommended in the Gillen review of the law on sexual offences in Northern Ireland.
Humphreys, however, ruled that the act went beyond the Gillen review, which had accepted that suspect anonymity may have to give way to public interest in some cases.
Speaking outside the court, McBride welcomed the judgment. “This was a very dangerous law. It criminalised us as journalists, criminalised anybody from saying something as basic as ‘Jimmy Savile was a paedophile’,” he said. “That is outrageous, it is bonkers, it should never ever have been passed by the Northern Ireland assembly.
“This is a massive victory for press freedom. This was a law which criminalised public interest investigative journalism. It criminalised people who were victims of sexual crimes in some cases.”
McBride called on the Northern Ireland justice minister, Naomi Long, to accept that the act was a mistake, and ensure the government would not appeal against the ruling.
