British Attorney General probes "injunction breach" in Bulger case

The British Attorney General was today investigating reports that a newspaper had published details relating to the whereabouts of the killers of toddler Jamie Bulger, which appears to breach a High Court injunction.

A statement from the Home Office said: ‘‘The attention of the Attorney General has been drawn to an article in today’s Manchester Evening News which appears to be in breach of the injunction granted by the High Court on January 8 2001, as it contains information which might lead to the identification of the present whereabouts of Jon Venables and Robert Thompson.

‘‘The Attorney General is considering as a matter of urgency whether it would be appropriate to issue proceedings for contempt in light of this.

‘‘In the meantime the Attorney General reminds all editors that the injunction prohibits the publication of any information that is likely to lead to the identification of Jon Venables or Robert Thompson, or any information likely to lead to the identification of their past, present or future whereabouts.

‘‘He will regard any breach of this injunction as a very serious matter.’’

Strict guidelines restricting media coverage of the pair were imposed by the High Court to protect them from revenge attacks.

The teenagers, whose crime shocked the world, have been granted an open-ended High Court injunction protecting their anonymity after their release from detention with new identities.

Family Division President Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss said the two had to be protected due to a ‘‘real possibility of serious physical harm and possible death from vengeful members of the public or from the Bulger family’’.

News of the publication of details, which were also carried on the paper’s website, drew an astonished reaction from legal experts and MPs.

Shadow home secretary Anne Widdecombe added: ‘‘These boys must have anonymity if they are to rebuild their lives.

’’Whatever we may think of the length of the sentence, they must have anonymity and I hope that the court will come down like a ton of bricks on anybody who breaches that.’’

Internet and media lawyer Mark Stephens said: ‘‘The problem that this case has always presented is jigsaw identification, the idea that confidential information evaporates because of each little piece of information that is published.’’

Any newspaper found to have breached the injunction could face an unlimited fine or the imprisonment of their editor under the Contempt of Court Act, he said.