Month: March 2023

28.03.23

Laila McKenzie: Press statement

In November 2022 the firm was instructed by Laila McKenzie the founder of Lady of the House, an organisation promoting, celebrating and championing women in dance music, in respect of content published on social media by Silvana Kill of Savenightlife CIC. Ms Kill has agreed, without liability, to remove the content complained about and to…

Police Investigations and bail: what are the recent changes? (Updated 24.05.23)

Introduction In 2017 the law was changed such that there was a presumption against placing suspects on bail following arrest but prior to any charging decision. The consequence of this was that suspects were often ‘released under investigation’ without restriction on their liberty but with little idea when a decision would made to conclude the…

14.03.23

Lexis Nexis analysis: High Court awards nearly £100,000 to image-based abuse victim (FGX v Stuart Gaunt)

Written by Iain Wilson, managing partner/head of Media and Communications Law at Brett Wilson LLP.  This analysis was first published on Lexis®PSL on 7 March 2023 and can be found here (£).  It is reproduced with permission and thanks. Summary In FGX v Gaunt [2023] EWHC 419 (KB), the claimant obtained £60,000 in general damages…

7.03.23

Carol Cadwalladr liable for defamation damages after Court of Appeal rejects echo chamber argument

As those with an interest in media law will be aware, for a defamation claim to succeed it is necessary for a claimant to prove that they have suffered serious harm to their reputation, or are likely to (section 1(1) of the Defamation Act 2013).  10 years after its introduction, the interpretation of this statutory…

2.03.23

Matt Hancock’s WhatsApp messages: Can Isabel Oakeshott’s breach of confidence be justified?

As has been widely reported, journalist Isabel Oakeshott has passed a number of former health secretary Matt Hancock’s WhatsApp messages to The Daily Telegraph, which has published them as part of its Lockdown files investigation.  The messages, apparently totaling over 100,000, were originally provided to Ms Oakeshott by Mr Hancock for the purposes of helping…