Surrey Ad Overturns Name Ban in Baby Cruelty Case

A trainee journalist from the Surrey Advertiser managed to get a Section 39 order lifted, which had prevented her from naming parents convicted of baby cruelty charges.

Reporter Stephanie Jones-Berry challenged the order which covered a baby girl who suffered permanent brain damage and multiple fractures by the time she was five-weeks-old at the hands of her parents.

Although the mother had pleaded guilty to child cruelty, the father pleaded not guilty to a charge of child cruelty by not seeking medical help for his daughter. He was convicted of the charge.

Reporting throughout the father’s trial was curtailed by the Section 39, which meant the parents could not be named for fear of identifying the child the order was protecting.

The Section 39 was overturned at the couple's sentencing after representations in court by the trainee reporter who had argued in a letter to the judge that the child was so young that she was unlikely to be affected by adverse publicity. It was Stephanie’s first challenge to a court order.

A case was also made about naming the parents being in the in the public interest and the interests of open justice.

“Surrey Ad trainees quickly become seasoned court reporters,” said news editor Tony Green. “It is an important part of a comprehensive training.”

“Nonetheless Steph’s success with her first court order challenge is commendable.”

The final report on the couple's sentencing was printed in four of the Surrey Advertiser’s seven editions.