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Comment by barry0079 | Hacker News Reader

Not before plastering the faces of an innocent couple nationwide. I think they deserve reparation for this.

One UK precedent for reparation is the treatment of retired teacher Christopher Jefferies who was arrested for the murder of his tenant Joanna Yeates. His character was totally assassinated by the UK media before he was released without charge (Vincent Tabak was later convicted of the murder) [0]. Jefferies' only crime was to be 'unconventional' in the opinion of the media. He launched legal action against six newspapers and accepted substantial damages. His story was turned in a TV drama [1] in 2014.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Joanna_Yeates

[1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3429354/plotsummary

The paper's that did that made clearly libellous claims - because the couple had not yet been charged with an offence when their names were published. Those paper's can now expect libel claims against them, although given the clear breach of libel law I expect they will wish to settle out of court rather than take on the extra expense of a court case they can't win.

I’m not too familiar with UK libel law. Is it not a defense that they were reporting on statements they were given? Is there a reasonableness question?

AFAIK the police specifically didn't release the names.

As per a sibling comment, the names were leaked, they were not officially announced.

I thought there was an actually arrest made? Don't know about the UK, but in the US arrests are public record.

There's a difference between saying "Mr and Mrs Bloggs were arrested in connection to the Gatwick drone chaos" and "ARE THESE THE MORONS WHO RUINED CHRISTMAS?" in 144pt font on the front page with a fuck-off huge photo of them.

http://suttonnick.tumblr.com/post/181330292801/hendopolis-ma...

But this newspaper probably won't have to pay out anything. They've been careful with their wording; they do this a lot; they have lawyers on staff; and defamation is difficult in the UK.

As far as we know it wasn't the police who reported their names and addresses. Police typically don't release names until someone is charged.

Newspapers reported their names, usually that happens off the back of neighbours tipping off the papers for cash about the police knocking on doors.

Or an envelope of cash to a bent copper

Bent coppers charge a lot. The guy two doors down probably won't stand to lose his job, so will like as not spill the beans for a pint.

'Police typically don't release names until someone is charged.'

Various celebrities could argue otherwise.

Yep, the Cliff Richard raid is a prime example:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliff_Richard#2014:_Property_s...

Interestingly I heard that 'some media' had published their names yesterday and I thought that was pretty crass. I know several media organisations are that though so its not really a surprise, and I hope they manage to sue them for undue distress or whatever.

Today though, the BBC are saying "<full name> and <full name> from Crawley are saying that they feel completely violated by the media attention". I can't understand what is going through the editors mind when they approve sentences like that.. there is literally no reason any member of the public would need to know their names, and having the BBC repeat them on the hour every hour is just kicking them when they are already down.

Perhaps they had no choice once their names were leaked.

Better to have publications about your vindication instead of just your arrest.

And BBC should have enough SEO to bury the arrest stories.

Yep, UK and US are abhorrent when it comes to this. Where I'm from(Poland) it's literally illegal to print the full name and show the face of the accused until after the trial. Once someone is arrested all the newspapers can do is say "Arthur G. was arrested on suspicion of X" with a blurred out photo of their face. The penalties for breaking that law are substantial and newspapers have paid extremely heavy fines for breaking it so it's generally adhered to.

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