Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2023
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Prohibition on publication or broadcast of certain material relating to offence under section 44 | ||
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46. (1) Subject to this section, where a person is charged with an offence under section 44 , a person (other than the relevant person) who publishes or broadcasts identifying material commits an offence. | ||
(2) Subsection (1) shall not apply where the relevant person consents in court to being identified or to the person charged with the offence being identified, or both. | ||
(3) The court in which proceedings for the offence are brought may, where satisfied that it is in the interests of justice to do so, direct that such information, photograph, depiction or other representation to which subsection (1) applies as the court may specify may be published or broadcast in such manner, and subject to such conditions, as may be specified in the direction. | ||
(4) Before giving a direction under subsection (3), the court shall take into account— | ||
(a) the views of the relevant person, and | ||
(b) the nature or circumstances of the case, and in particular the effect of the publication or broadcast concerned on the relevant person. | ||
(5) A direction given under subsection (3) shall be in writing. | ||
(6) A person who contravenes the terms of a direction given under subsection (3) commits an offence. | ||
(7) A person who commits an offence under subsection (1) or (6) is liable— | ||
(a) on summary conviction to a class B fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months, or both, or | ||
(b) on conviction on indictment to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, or both. | ||
(8) It shall be a defence for a person who is charged with an offence under subsection (1) or (6) to prove that at the time of the alleged offence the person was not aware, and neither suspected nor had reason to suspect— | ||
(a) in the case of an offence under subsection (1), that the information, photograph, depiction or other representation published or broadcast was identifying material, or | ||
(b) in the case of an offence under subsection (6), that the information, photograph, depiction or other representation was published or broadcast in contravention of the terms of a direction given under subsection (3). | ||
(9) This section is without prejudice to any other enactment or rule of law that operates to prohibit the publication or broadcast of identifying material. | ||
(10) In this section— | ||
“broadcast” has the same meaning as it has in the Broadcasting and Other Media Regulation Acts 2009 and 2022; | ||
“identifying material”, in relation to an offence under section 44 , means— | ||
(a) information, or | ||
(b) a photograph, depiction or other representation of the physical likeness of the relevant person or of the person charged with the offence, | ||
that is likely to enable the identification of the relevant person or of the person charged with the offence; | ||
“publish” means publish, other than by way of broadcast, to the public or a portion of the public; | ||
“relevant person”, in relation to an offence under section 44 , means the applicant for whose benefit the order concerned was made. |