Originally Posted by
ATC Watcher
In many countries , there is the presumption of innocence and confidentiality of the investigation . Is that not the case in the UK ?
It it is the case then the person from either the police or the justice department that released the names and addresses to the journalists should face strong disciplinary action .
I fell very sorry for this couple, remember all too well when a similar cock-up ended in tragedy when a journalist released the name (and the village where he lived) of the air traffic controller working the aircraft during the Ueberlingen collision.
The father of one of the victims showed up in his house and stabbed him to death in front of his wife and kids. I always wondered how the person that leaked his name and the editor that published it still feel about it today ?
Whilst there is technically a presumption of innocence in Law, it is for all practical purposes an illusion. The great unwashed conflate investigation with guilt and the media are far more concerned with their right to publish the first thing that comes into their heads than with publishing facts - suggest that they hold back on pillorying some individual and they'll scream "censorship" at you. You'd've thought they might have learned a thing or two from how they treated Cliff Richard but apparently there really is no discenable thought process involved with journalism.