Kemp and Others, Petitioners
| Jurisdiction | Scotland |
| Judgment Date | 15 January 1982 |
| Docket Number | No. 7. |
| Date | 15 January 1982 |
| Court | High Court of Justiciary |
JC
L.J.-G. Emslie, Lords Stott, Dunpark.
Contempt of court—Cases sub judice—Newspaper reports during course of terrorist trial—Prejudice to fair trial—Whether jurors influenced in consideration of the credibility of a witness—Witness a self-confessed socius criminis—Petition to nobile officium of High Court.
The editor of "The Glasgow Herald," The Scotsman Publications Ltd. and the editor of "The Scotsman" were found guilty of contempt of court in respect that reports published by them in their newspapers during the course of, and pertaining to, an important High Court trial at Glasgow contained statements such as might influence jurors in their assessment of the credibility of witnesses if they had read the reports. The trial Judge admonished them and allowed the trial to proceed, taking the view that risk of prejudice in a fair trial would be overcome by suitable directions to the jury.
In the view of the trial Judge, the contempt of court lay in the fact that there was a clear implication in the reports that a witness was under threat and thought to require protection from the police, although there was no evidence of that. A jury might be influenced by that information when they came to assess the credibility of the witness. One of the witnesses in question was a self-confessed socius criminis and admitted to being the commander of the Maryhill unit of the Ulster Volunteer Force. He had given evidence directly implicating several of the accused in the trial.
It was submitted for the petitioners in a petition to the nobile officium of the High Court that the reports contained no information or insinuations capable of prejudicing the reasonable juror. In particular, the reports made no reference to the attitudes or beliefs of the witnesses, therefore they could not affect the witnesses' credibility before the jury.
Held that there were no passages in either of the two publications containing information or insinuations capable of prejudicing reasonable jurors in their assessment of the credibility of witnesses; and convictions for contempt of court quashed.
MacAlister v. Associated Newspapers Ltd.UNK 1954 S.L.T. 14 and Atkins v. London Weekend TelevisionSC1978 J.C. 48followed.
Arnold Kemp, The Scotsman Publications Limited and Eric Mackaypresented a petition to the High Court of Justiciary praying the Court to exercise its nobile officium to recall findings by a trial Judge that the petitioners were guilty of contempt of court in respect of the contents of a report published in their respective newspapers during a trial in the High Court in Glasgow.
The petition was heard before the High Court of Justiciary on 15th January 1982.
The arguments of the parties are set out in the opinion of the Court.
At advising on 15th January 1982, the opinion of the Court was delivered by the Lord Justice-General.
LORD JUSTICE-GENERAL (Emslie).—These petitioners pray the Court in the exercise of the nobile officium to recall findings by a trial Judge that they were guilty of contempt of court in respect of the contents of a report published in each newspaper on the morning of the third day of an important trial in the High Court at Glasgow.
The trial began on 29th June 1981. There were...
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