Spectator in trial article charge

May 9 2012

A magazine is being prosecuted for potentially putting the Stephen Lawrence trial in danger of collapse.

The Spectator is accused of breaching a court order preventing prejudicial material being published before jurors reached verdicts.

An article written by Rod Liddle called defendants Gary Dobson and David Norris "disgusting racists" during the Old Bailey trial.

Mr Justice Treacy said the Spectator article titled "A Vindictive Charade" breached three specific sections of the contempt order placed on the case by the Lord Chief Justice in the appeal court, and continued at the trial.

He referred the magazine to the Attorney General for contempt of court in November.

The judge also banned the jury from reading that week's Spectator, even if they were a subscriber and it had dropped through their letterbox.

Liddle wrote that Dobson and Norris were part of a bigger group of suspects who had been named in the press, including Jamie Acourt and Luke Knight.

He also said that Norris had a father who was a major criminal. The Spectator took down the article from its website that afternoon.

The Crown Prosecution Service announced that the magazine would be prosecuted for breaching a court order.

CPS London chief prosecutor Alison Saunders said the publisher of the magazine had been summonsed to appear at Westminster magistrates court on June 7.