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Viscount Brentford: My Lords, I support my noble friend's amendment. Like him, about three or four weeks ago I was at a local police station one night during which three cases involving missing persons arose. Speed was very much of the essence. There was then no question of any great publicity. I am glad to say that those missing persons, all of different ages, turned up before I left the police station in the early hours of the morning. I believe that this is a simple measure that will facilitate the work of the police so that they do not have to go to a court if they believe that publicity will help and press restrictions should be lifted. Anything
that facilitates the very professional job that they normally carry out is to be welcomed. I support the amendment.
Lord Williams of Mostyn: My Lords, I sympathise with the spirit of the amendment, but I hope to be able to reassure noble Lords that it is not necessary on two bases. The evening occurrences to which the noble Lord and the noble Viscount have referred would not be relevant in the context of Clause 43 except in certain circumstances. Clause 43(1) starts to bite only where an allegation has been made that an offence has been committed, or that a civil offence has been committed. That is the important context of this discussion. The prohibition on publication that one finds in Clause 43(2) is:
But I concede that there may well be some circumstances in which courts are of the view that this is a criminal investigation and they need to publish certain information. The point of the provision as presently drafted--this is why I say that I hope to provide reassurance--is that in Clause 43(6) it is provided:
Lord Cope of Berkeley: My Lords, unless I misheard him the Minister has just read out a bit of the clause that we amended a few minutes ago. He read out Clause 43(1):
Lord Williams of Mostyn: My Lords, we have moved on. Whether it is described as an allegation made or a criminal investigation begun, we have moved on--I believe that I used the words "criminal investigation"--from the factual situation which the noble Lord and the noble Viscount identified; namely, we are looking for someone who is missing. I believe that on the illustrations given a crime has not been
committed; there is no criminal investigation. My point is that however those circumstances are defined--I hope that we have helped the press by giving a more precise definition--there is still power to go to the court in the form of a single justice to get a relaxation of the restrictions.
Lord Cope of Berkeley: My Lords, I accept what the Minister says, but there will be other instances where it is apparent from the first moment that a crime has been committed. In the case of a missing child it may not be so, and in that case the noble Lord relies on going to a single justice to get permission to release information to the press.
Frankly, that shows a distrust of the police in the course of their duties, which I do not share. I think the police should have the ability, without the added complication of having to go and find a justice in order to get permission, to tell the press what is happening. I think the police should have that ability. It may be that my amendment is not perfectly drafted, but I should like to test the opinion of the House on it and press the point that the restrictions we are trying to introduce are not restrictions on the police--or they should not be--but restrictions solely on the way the news media operate.
Lord Williams of Mostyn: My Lords, I wonder if I might take up that last point, to be helpful and not tedious. The amendment says:
Lord Cope of Berkeley: Yes, my Lords, but there is no point in the police publishing something if it cannot be picked up by the newspapers. All that the newspapers or, for that matter, television and so on could report would be what the police had said. It is only that information supplied by the police or the other authority which would be permitted to be published. So the police would be able to put out an appeal if, for example, they were suspicious of a red car seen outside a school. In that case the police would be able to pass on information to the press and the press would be able to report that, but nothing else.
Lord Williams of Mostyn: My Lords, of course they can report that. The prohibition on reporting refers to any publication if it is likely to lead members of the public to identify a man as a person involved in the offence.
Lord Cope of Berkeley: My Lords, exactly so; and that would be overridden if this amendment were to be inserted. That is what I am trying to achieve: to permit the police to override the restriction in the interests of their investigation.
On Question, Whether the said amendment (No. 68) shall be agreed to?
Their Lordships divided: Contents, 48; Not-Contents, 132.
Resolved in the negative, and amendment disagreed to accordingly.
6.51 p.m.
Clause 44 [Power to restrict reporting of criminal proceedings involving persons under 18]:
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