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07/12/94 - Judicial review
for murder case sisters
RHYS WILLIAMS
Independent
Several national newspapers could face contempt proceedings
for prejudicial reporting of the Taylor sisters' murder
trial two years ago, following a High Court ruling yesterday.
The two sisters, who had their murder convictions quashed
by the Court of Appeal, have been granted leave to seek
judicial review against the Solicitor General's decision
that contempt proceedings against the Sun, Daily Mirror,
Daily Star and DailyExpress were ''not appropriate' '.
Michelle and Lisa Taylor were convicted of the murder
of Alison Shaughnessy, a bank clerk, at the Old Bailey
in July 1992 and sentenced to life imprisonment. However,
three judges at the Court of Appeal quashed the convictions
in June last year afterfinding there were material irregularities
at the trial and that prejudicial press publicity made
the verdicts ''unsafe and unsatisfactory''.
Mrs Justice Bracewell described the reporting as ''sensational,
misleading and inaccurate'', while Lord Justice McCowan
concluded: ''We find it quite impossible to say that the
jury were not influenced in their decision by what they
read in the press.''
The Court of Appeal ordered the case papers to be sent
to the Attorney General for him to consider whether contempt
of court proceedings should be brought. The 1981 Contempt
of Court Act makes it an offence for the media to report
anything that carries''a substantial risk of prejudice''.
In May this year, the Solicitor General, Sir Derek Spencer,
ruled that proceedings were ''not appropriate''. Geoffrey
Robertson QC, appearing for the sisters, both of whom
spent 11 months in prison, told Mr Justice Schiemann:
''This is the first occasion in British history when a
court has actually held that defendants were denied the
right to a fair trial byreason of prejudicial press publicity.''
While the decision opens up the possibility of the sisters
suing the newspapers for thousands of pounds, Mark Stephens,
the Taylors' solicitor, said their actions were not motivated
by ''gold digging or putting journalists in the dock'',
but aboutpreventing the same thing happening again.
''We have to ensure the Attorney General enforces the
law of contempt. He has just Nelsonically turned a blind
eye and allowed national headlines to sail past him without
doing anything about it.''
Considering the appeal last year, Lord Justice McCowan
described how newspapers such as the Sun and Star published
a still from a video in which Michelle Taylor kissed John
Shaughnessy, Alison's husband, on the cheek. He said the
headlines - ''Cheat's Kiss'' and ''Judas Kiss'' - which
appeared with the picture broke the rules since ''nothing
like that had been said in court''.
He was also concerned about a headline in the Daily Express
which reported ''Killer wept as she stroked her victim's
hair'', despite the fact it was never said in court. The
Sun also featured another photograph of Michelle at the
Shaughnessy wedding under the headline: ''The 'killer'
mistress who was at lover' s wedding.''
An arrow pointed to Michelle. The Daily Sport correctly
reported that Michelle had kept a diary, but incorrectly
added that it contained ''her true feelings of suppressed
jealousy and hatred for her rival''.
Lord Justice McCowan went on: ''What in fact they [the
media] did was not reporting at all. It was comment, and
comment which assumed guilt on the part of the girls in
the dock.'' Giving leave for the challenge, the judge
rejected the argument that, because the Attorney General
held the unique role of ''guardian of the public interest'',
his decisions could not be reviewed by the High Court.
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