Justice must be public

Complaints usually arrive on Thursday.
Not that we receive many. In fact I had none last week.
Most result from people reading their conviction on a criminal charge in the Journal or Gazette that morning.“What right have you to print my court case?” they ask.
“A key principle of the English legal system is that justice is seen to be done,” I reply.
“We have an obligation to ensure that justice is not done in secret.”
Nobody wants to advertise a criminal conviction to friends and family, but publicity acts as a deterrent to potential wrongdoers.
We reject suggestions from complainants that such publicity is a breach of privacy, and I would publish my own court case in this newspaper if I was convicted of a crime.
What does seem wrong is the way that rich and powerful celebrities invade other people’s privacy then demand everyone respects their own privacy when it suits them.
An example is the TV and radio host Jonathan Ross who broadcast his taunting of actor Andrew Sachs, saying Russell Brand had enjoyed sex with Mr Sachs’ granddaughter.
This is the same Jonathan Ross who used heavy duty lawyers to threaten editors with dire consequences if they dared to print an innocuous photo of him playing tennis.
Philip Welch