Complaints Against Mary Bell Serialisation Not Upheld

The Times’ decision to serialise Gitta Sereny’s book on Mary Bell, ‘Cries Unheard’ is discussed in the Press Complaints Commission’s latest report.

There is no doubt that the serialisation was lawful, the question is rather whether it contravened the far more rigorous requirements of the newspapers’ and magazines’ Code of Practice – that is whether the crime was one that ‘contained a public interest element’.

The Commission found the newspaper’s self-justification to be ‘compelling’, agreeing with it that the strength of ‘Cries Unheard’ lay in its thoughtful investigation of how our criminal justice system deals with children, and that such analysis was helpful in preventing similar crimes in future.

In conclusion, it was decided that the public, and not only the book-buying section of it, had a right to read this material, and the complaints were not upheld

Similar complaints about The Mirror’s and The Express’s articles on Deborah Parry and Lucille MacLauchlan, both convicted of a murder in Saudi Arabia and then released, and about The Daily Telegraph’s serialisation of a book by convicted IRA terrorist Sean O’Callaghan, were also rejected.

Meanwhile, Sir Paul McCartney’s complaint against Hello was upheld. OK’s main rival had published a series of photographs under the title ‘ A month after losing wife Linda – Sir Paul McCartney – Getting by with a little help from his children’, which were judged to be ‘deeply intrusive’. An image of the family inside Notre Dame cathedral was condemned as disrespectful to the ‘sanctity of individuals’ acts of worship’.

Press Complaints Commission: 0171 353 1248