| The Dream Solution
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01/08/95
- Sisters lose 'trial by media' action
Clare Dyer Legal Correspondent
TWO sisters convicted of murder and later freed yesterday lost
their battle to force the Attorney-General to prosecute newspapers
who subjected them to "trial by media". Though the reporting
did "no credit to the tabloid press", Lord Justice Stuart-Smith
and Mr Justice Butterfield ruled in the High Court in London that
the Attorney-General's decisions on whether to take legal action
are not subject to challenge in the courts.
Even had they power to intervene, they would not have done so
because the decision not to prosecute was neither irrational nor
unlawful. Michelle and Lisa Taylor, of Forest Hill, south London,
wanted prosecutions brought against the Sun, Daily Mirror, Daily
Mail, Daily Express and South London Press. The two were convicted
at the Old Bailey in 1992 of the murder of Alison Shaughnessy,
who had married Michelle's former lover.
The convictions were quashed a year later, when the Appeal Court
ruled that prejudicial publicity and material irregularities at
their trial made them unsafe and unsatisfactory. The court asked
the Attorney-General to consider taking contempt proceedings against
the papers involved. No action was taken and the sisters' solicitor
was told that the Solicitor-General, Sir Derek Spencer, on behalf
of the Attorney-General, Sir Nicholas Lyell, had decided that
contempt proceedings were unlikely to succeed.
In a two-day hearing last week, Geoffrey Robertson, QC, for Michelle,
aged 25, and Lisa, 22, said action had to be taken to curb the
prejudicial and sensationalised reporting of court cases or newspapers
would be "on the downward path" of the OJ Simpson trial,
with the press commenting on, rather than reporting, cases. Lord
Justice Stuart-Smith said legal precedents set by earlier cases
pointed to the Attorney-General's "unique constitutional
position".
The views of the Appeal Court when considering the sisters' appeal
against conviction were not binding on the Attorney-General, who
had to make his own decision. The Solicitor-General had said it
was difficult to see how an article in the South London Press
saying Michelle Taylor's alibi had been "torn to shreds"
by her best friend in the witness box had prejudiced the jury.
The judge agreed: "I think the jury were well able to appreciate
that it was their assessment of the witness that mattered."
Of the photograph headed "Cheat's Kiss", showing Michelle
kissing her former lover at his wedding, the judge said: "It
cannot be said to be an inappropriate description.
She and Shaughnessy had undoubtedly cheated on Alison as that
expression is commonly used in a sexual relationship." But
the reporting did "no credit to the tabloid press",
he added. Mr Justice Butterfield said he was considerably troubled
by it. "Some of that coverage crossed the limit of fair and
accurate reporting by a substantial margin." The sisters,
who were granted legal aid, were refused leave to appeal to the
House of Lords, but their lawyers plan to seek leave from the
Lords. |
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