Our author of Between The Lies, Louise Tickle, scored a crucial victory for open court reporting the other week.
Louise, and fellow journalist Hannah Summers, had made an application in the family courts for the release of documents relating to the terrible events around the death of Sara Sharif. When the pair attended a hearing in mid-December they were astonished to hear the judge impose restrictions on naming the judges involved in earlier court decisions about whether Sara should be returned to her parents. The whole episode is much better told by Louise on The Observer but in short Louise and Hannah ended up trying to reverse the decision in the Court of Appeal, an appeal they won on all three grounds. The case was important as it was thought to be the first time there had been an order preventing the naming of judges involved in court proceedings, a move which could have made it harder for journalists to report on the circumstances behind critical decisions made about the safety of children. The challenges of reporting from court inspired Louise's first novel, the psychological thriller Between The Lies, and the theme runs through the sequel, Tainted Love, due this Autumn. Comments are closed.
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