X and Y -v- BBC and others (anonymity and reporting restriction order)

CivilCourt of Appeal Civil DivisionFamily DivisionAnonymity OrderOrder

Case number: CA-2025-000080

In the Court of Appeal
on appeal from the High Court of Justice
Family Division

ZW22C50103

6 March 2025

Before:

Lady Justice King
and
Lord Justice Warby

Between:

“X”
and
“Y”
(By their litigation friend, the Children’s Guardian)

-v-

(1) The British Broadcasting Corporation
(2) A Local Authority
(3) “Z”

IN THE MATTER OF L (CHILDREN)

Interim anonymity and reporting restriction order

IMPORTANT WARNING: ANY PERSON OR BODY WHO KNOWS OF THIS ORDER AND DOES ANYTHING TO BREACH ITS TERMS MAY BE HELD TO BE IN CONTEMPT OF COURT AND MAY BE IMPRISONED, FINED OR HAVE THEIR ASSETS SEIZED.IF YOU ARE SERVED WITH THIS ORDER YOU SHOULD READ IT EXTREMELY CAREFULLY AND ARE ADVISED TO CONSULT A SOLICITOR AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO ASK THE COURT TO VARY OR DISCHARGE THE ORDER.

UPON King LJ directing that the application for permission to appeal be listed for an oral hearing on 17 March 2025

AND UPON consideration of the papers and without an oral hearing

IT IS ORDERED THAT:

Withholding order

  1. The names and addresses of the proposed appellants and the other information specified in Schedule 2 to this order is and shall be withheld from the public in these proceedings (the “Withheld Information”).

Reporting restriction order

  1. No person shall publish in connection with these proceedings any of the Withheld Information or any other information if such publication is likely to lead to the identification of any person as being a child the subject of the proceedings in this case, whether at first instance or in this court
    PROVIDED THAT
    (a) the term “publish” in this order has the meaning specified below
    (b) the prohibition in this paragraph is subject to the “permitted publications” and “territorial limitation” provisions below
  2. Except as provided for below under ‘Service of this order’ no publication of the
    text or summary of this order or the supporting documents shall include any of the matters referred to in the preceding paragraph.
  3. Except as provided for below under “Skeleton Arguments” documents from the proceedings may not be disclosed without the specific permission of the court. This includes where a document is referred to or quoted from in court that the accredited reporter would not otherwise have access to.

Meaning of “publish”

  1. In this order the word publish and related terms include publishing or broadcasting or causing the publication or broadcast in any newspaper, magazine, public computer network, internet website, social networking app or website, sound or television broadcast or cable or satellite program service.
  1. For the avoidance of doubt, in the case of a media organisation served with this order, the sharing of information internally to legal or editorial staff for the purposes of understanding the effect of this order and/or considering whether to apply to vary or discharge it does not amount to publication.

Permitted publications

  1. Nothing in this order shall prevent any person from:
    a. publishing information relating to any part of a hearing in a court in England and Wales (including a coroner’s court) in which the court was sitting in public and did not itself make any order restricting publication;
    b. (subject to paragraph 3 above) publishing information contained in any judgment or order handed down in public by a court in England and Wales.
    c. publishing, communicating or disclosing such of the Withheld Information, or any part thereof, as was already in, or that thereafter comes into, the public domain in England and Wales other than as a result of breach of this order.
    d. seeking or publishing information which is not restricted by the Reporting restriction order above;
    e. enquiring whether a person or place falls within the scope of the Reporting restriction order above;
    f. seeking information relating to the children while acting in a manner authorised by statute or by any court in England and Wales;
    g. seeking information from the lead solicitor, whose details are set out below, or from any press officer employed by the local authority;
    h. seeking or receiving information from anyone who before making of this order had previously approached that person with the purpose of volunteering information (but this paragraph will not make lawful the provision or receipt of private information which would otherwise be unlawful).

Duration of this order

  1. Subject to any different order made in the meantime, this order shall have effect until after the determination of the application for permission to appeal, or the determination of the appeal should permission to appeal be granted.

Effect of this order

  1. Subject to the following paragraph, this order binds all persons and all companies
    or unincorporated bodies (whether acting by their directors, employees or in any other way) who know that the order has been made.

Territorial limitation

  1. In respect of persons outside England and Wales:
    a. Except as provided in sub-paragraph (b) below, the terms of this order do not affect or concern anyone outside the jurisdiction of this court.
    b. The terms of this order will bind the following persons in a country, territory or state outside the jurisdiction of this court:
    i. the first and second respondents or their agents;
    ii. any person who is subject to the jurisdiction of this court;
    iii. any person who has been given written notice of this order at his residence or place of business within the jurisdiction of this court; and
    iv. any person who is able to prevent acts or omissions outside the jurisdiction of this court undertaken in knowledge of this order, which constitute or assist in a breach of the terms of this order;
    v. any other person, only to the extent that this order is declared enforceable by or is enforced by a court in that country or state.

Communications with regard to scope and effect

  1. Any communications about the scope and effect of this order should be sent to CMSB (civilappeals.cmsB@justice.gov.uk).

Skeleton Arguments etc.

  1. To facilitate open justice without disclosure of the Withheld Information
    a. each party that files a skeleton argument shall
    i. by no later than 10am on Friday 14 March 2025 file by email to press.enquiries@judiciary.uk a copy of their skeleton argument, redacted as necessary to comply with this order
    ii. comply with the requirements set out in CPR PD52C paragraph 33(1) to (4) as if the hearing of the application for permission was “the hearing of an appeal” within the meaning of that paragraph;
    b. each party that does not file a skeleton argument shall by no later than 10am on 14 March 2025 file by email to press.enquiries@judiciary.uk a short written statement of its position in respect of the application in a form suitable for publication in compliance with this order
  2. Each document supplied pursuant to paragraph 12 of this order above is subject to an embargo until the start of the hearing on Monday 17 March 2025 and must not be distributed, copied or published in any way (whether in any newspaper, magazine, public computer network, internet website, sound or television broadcast or cable or satellite programme service or on social media or otherwise howsoever).

The right to apply for variation or discharge of this order

  1. Any party that wishes to apply for a direction lifting or varying the requirements of paragraph 12 or 13 above or CPR PD52C paragraphs 33(1) to (4) must give written notice to the other parties and the court before the hearing. If they do so the provisions set out in CPR PD52C paragraph 33(5) and (6) shall apply.
  2. Any person, or media organisation, affected by the Withholding or Reporting Restrictions Order may make application to vary or discharge it to the Court of Appeal for the attention of [CMSB (civilappeals.cmsB@justice.gov.uk)] on no less than forty-eight hours’ notice in writing to the parties. A formal application notice shall not be required but any facts relied on in support of such application shall be verified by a witness statement endorsed with a statement of truth.

Service of this order

  1. Without prejudice to the terms of the ‘territorial limitation’ above, copies of this order (which is endorsed with the notice warning of the consequences of disobedience) shall be served by the proposed appellants (and may be served by any other parties to the proceedings):
    a. by service on such publishers, broadcasters, newspaper and sound or television broadcasting or cable satellite or programme services by email, with a hard copy (if required) by fax or first class post addressed to the editor (in the case of a newspaper) or senior news editor (in the case of a broadcasting, cable or satellite programme service) or website administrator (in the case of an internet website) and to their respective legal departments where such departments exist; and/or
    b. on such other persons as the parties may think fit, by personal service.
  2. Schedule 1 to this order is an explanatory note. It forms part of this order. The note must always be supplied to any person served with or notified of this order.

Publication of this order

  1. This order – but not the Schedules – shall be published on the Judiciary website.

Costs

  1. There shall be no order as to costs.

BY THE COURT