THE NORTHERN Ireland High Court has prohibited Independent News and Media from publishing unpixelated (not blurred) photographs of a man who murdered a woman 21 years ago, and is now eligible for release from prison under supervision.
Kenneth Callaghan was sentenced to life imprisonment in June 1988 for the murder of Carol Jane Gouldie in October 1987, in what the High Court judge, Mr Justice William Stephens, described as a “brutal and callous sexual murder”. The Lord Chief Justice, Sir Brian Kerr, fixed a tariff of 21 years which expired on October 9th last year.
Callaghan has been in the Prisoner Assessment Unit, which assesses prisoners on a day release basis. He discovered that Independent News and Media intended to publish photographs of him while on day release, and took legal action to prevent it.
Mr Justice Stephens did not find that the publication of an unpixelated photograph would lead to a real and immediate risk to the life of Callaghan. He found, however, that the background articles that had been published by the newspaper group lacked balance as to the supervision by the authorities of Callaghan in the community.
Because of this, and the hostility engendered by the tone and content of those articles, there would be disruption to his home, his private life and his family connections through acts of violence, if his precise whereabouts were made known through the publication of such photographs, he said.
Mr Justice Stephens concluded that, while convicted criminals should not expect privacy from the police, the prison service and the probation service, Callaghan had a residuum of privacy and an expectation of respect for it in relation to the newspaper group.
He referred to the balancing exercise required between the newspaper group’s right to freedom of expression and Callaghan’s right to respect for his private and family life and his home.
He considered the system operating in the US where most states required public disclosure of details about where sex offenders reside and work, compared with the system in the UK where the emphasis is on monitoring and supervising offenders, with only limited disclosure about sex offenders to selected individuals.
He heard evidence from Prof Bates Gaston, chief psychologist in the Northern Ireland Prison Service, who told the court that information provided to the public does not reduce the risk of harm to the public, but actually increases it as it increases the risk of reoffending.
Mr Justice Stephens found there was a low to medium risk of Callaghan reoffending without the publication of unpixelated photographs, and that there was proper supervision of him by the authorities. He found that publication of such photographs would disrupt the supervision and support programmes, thereby increasing the risk of reoffending and the danger to the public.
In a separate action taken by the Northern Ireland Office, he ruled that the newspaper group could not publish any photograph of any prisoner who is, or has been, assessed at the prisoner assessment unit unless all distinguishing features were obscured, without giving the prison service 48 hours’ notice of its intention.