Martin Downs acted as a Junior for June Venters QC in the case of Re: P & Q to assist with the Human Rights implications – and in particular the meaning and import of current statutory restrictions on Court reporting.
The Court is concerned with accusations against a father of leading a satanic child abuse cult. These have been adjudged to be entirely false by Mrs Justice Pauffley. Nevertheless, the claims have generated a lot of publicity and the father, the Judge, a school and a church have been subjected to an intense internet-based campaign of harassment This has included intensely private material prepared as evidence in a Court case being placed online and demonstrations taking place outside the RCJ London and other locations.
The BBC news story is here:
The problems surrounding the reporting of this case was the subject of analysis by Victoria Derbyshire on her BBC programme on 20 April 2015:
The case and the problem of online viral hate campaigns is the subject of a documentary on BBC Radio 4 on Thursday 23 April 2015
