Farage is wrong about the Widdecombe case. This is why

Nigel Farage is pushing for more details about the Ann Widdecombe murder suspect’s political affiliations to be reported ahead of any future trial. The leader of Reform UK has questioned why “no one” will publish information about Joshua Kerry’s political views. Kerry, 28, from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, appeared in court on Tuesday charged with the murder of the former Conservative MP, who was most recently a spokeswoman for Reform. Shorts In an article for The Sun, Farage has made several claims about Kerry’s apparent political stance, saying that he has acquired the information “on good authority”. His comments come as detectives continue to investigate any possible political motive for Widdecombe’s murder. Why are certain details about the murder suspect not being reported? Once a suspect has been arrested, strict contempt of court rules come into effect. These mean that certain information about a suspect or the case cannot be reported as they may prejudice any future trial. Publicly commenting on a court case and declaring someone is guilty or innocent, including on social media or in online news articles, can constitute as being in contempt of court Every country that signs up to the European Convention on Human Rights has their own way of “upholding the right to a fair trial,” said media law expert Charlie Moloney. In the UK, that is through the Contempt of Court Act of 1981. “The stage at which this case became active was when Joshua Kerry was arrested and from the moment the case is active, there’s a ban on publication of anything that could create what the statute says is a substantial risk that the course of justice will be seriously impeded or prejudiced.” Why are some outlets publishing information about Kerry’s alleged political views? This does not mean that all news outlets take identical approaches – a range of pieces of background information about Kerry have appeared in different outlets’ coverage. The variation in approaches media organisations have taken is partly due to the lack of specificity in the contempt of court legislation. “There’s no definition in the act of exactly what that test will be met by. So it doesn’t give a list of things you can’t publish. It doesn’t say, for example, you can’t publish the motivations,” said Moloney, who is also a journalist. Appetite for risk, or lack thereof, also plays a part in the decision-making. And caution is often exercised as it is not simply causing risk that can be deemed contempt of court but having the potential to cause risk. Moloney thinks the BBC is the most risk-averse major news organisation, describing its approach as textbook and reminiscent of how journalism students would be trained to report when proceedings are active. “I think sometimes people could legitimately point to the BBC’s coverage and say it’s too lacking in detail. They may be being too cautious,” he added. Media law trainer and commentator David Banks has suggested that a lack of media law literacy could be to blame for some of the reporting around Kerry. Of Farage’s comment piece in The Sun, he wrote on X that he believes two sections “go beyond what has normally been accepted. They talk about aspects of the arrested man which might influence a potential juror in any trial.” Consequences of media organisations being found guilty of contempt of court Contempt of court can result in those found guilty being fined, sent to prison or both. But it can also affect a trial’s outcome. In 2012, The Daily Mail and The Daily Mirror were each fined £10,000 by two High Court judges after they were found guilty of contempt of court due to their coverage of the conviction of Milly Dowler’s murderer. Jurors were still considering a separate abduction charge against Levi Bellfield when the papers published articles that were found to be prejudicial. As a result, the jury at the Old Bailey was discharged without reaching a verdict on the count that Bellfield attempted to abduct Rachel Cowles, 11, the day before he snatched 13-year-old Milly.