Why Convicted Paedophiles Are Sometimes Not Named

Sometimes a convicted child abuser is not named in the press.

This was the case with the two female accomplices in the Ian Watkins case and it was also the case more recently after the conviction of Rodney Joseph Campbell from Sperrin Road in Limavady, Northern Ireland who pleaded guilty to 18 charges of sexual abuse on January 8th and who was jailed for 12 years for what the judge described as “a depraved and humiliating period of sexual and physical abuse”.

He could not be named because by doing so his victim might be identified. It is only because the victim has waived her right to anonymity that Rodney Joseph Campbell, 44, is able to be named now.

The brave victim  instructed her solicitor to apply for the anonymity order in relation to her to be lifted.

In response Judge Philip Babington explained:

“There is no such thing as an anonymity order.

“Injured parties have the statutory right in sexual cases to have their identity protected.

“They automatically have a life-long right to anonymity.

“Defendants do not have that right but the Press are under a statutory duty not to do anything that might identify the injured party.

“But it is my view that if a complainant, as has happened in two other recent cases in this court, wishes to waive her right to anonymity, it is her right.

“Therefore if the media wish to name the defendant in this case there is nothing I can do about it unless there is an application from the defendant, for example in respect of his human rights.

“The application is therefore granted which means as the complainant has waived her right to anonymity she can be named and it means the defendant can be named,”

Of course, just because the victim has waived her right to anonymity so that Rodney Joseph Campbell can be named, it doesn’t mean that the press should name the victim, as I’ve seen one MSM outlet do.

Where is the public interest  ?

An anonymity order has been lifted on a man who subjected a homeless teenage girl to what a judge described as a depraved and humiliating period of sexual and physical abuse.

Rodney Joseph Campbell, 44, of Sperrin Road in Limavady, was jailed for 12 years earlier this month.

His name can be published because his victim waived her right to anonymity.

BBC News