“Parties to an action do not need the consent of the court to make an effective settlement of their dispute; nor do they need the consent of the court to announce to the world that they have settled it on stated terms. The importance of the making of a statement in open court is, first, that it is likely to come to the attention of the press, who will give to it such attention as its public interest is seen by them to merit and, secondly, since the statement is part of a judicial proceeding, it is made on an occasion of absolute privilege. Thus, the parties to the statement are protected and, moreover, the statement can be reported without the publisher of the report incurring the risk of being sued in respect of it. … It seems to me that the protection obtained from the fact that the approved statement is made in open court is not to be seen as an unintended and undeserved consequence of the procedure, but as a useful attribute of it which is obtained, of course, only if the court permits it to be used. The daunting burden of the risk in costs in such litigation must weigh intolerably upon most litigants. The procedure offers a means by which settlement can be reached and, when appropriate, announced in appropriate terms between two parties without risk of further litigation arising out of that announcement. It is, in my view, a grievous burden to be sued in a defamation action even if you win it in the end.”
“The judge was right, in my view, to regard the settlement of proceedings as a public good which the court should encourage and facilitate if, having regard to the interests of all the parties, it is right and just so to do. Although a party has no right to make a statement in open court upon which he can insist if the circumstances are such that the judge cannot in his discretion approve that course, it seems to me that parties who have made a bona fide settlement of a defamation action and ask leave to make a statement in open court may expect to be allowed to do so unless some sufficient reason appears on the material before the judge why leave should be refused to them. By saying that he did not regard either party as having a burden of proof, while acknowledging that it is desirable for settlement to be facilitated, I think the judge meant, as he said, that he must have regard to the interests of all parties; but, if there is no sufficient reason to refuse it, a plaintiff who has reached a settlement with a defendant should be allowed to make an approved statement. I think the judge was right in his approach.”
“(2) The procedure by which a statement in open court was made as part of the settlement of a libel action was a well established and a valuable means of vindication. As a matter of general principle, parties who had made a bona fide settlement of a defamation action and asked for permission to make a statement in open court would be allowed to do so unless there was some sufficient reason to refuse permission, and as long as there was nothing in the case which made the making of a statement unfair to another party. The interests of non-parties should be borne in mind, given that any statement would be read with the benefit of absolute privilege. Statements should be fair and proportionate, and should not misrepresent a party’s case or the nature of the settlement reached. (3) However, the threshold of intervention would be high: the court was unlikely to intervene in the absence of any real or substantial unfairness to an objecting party, and nitpicking was to be discouraged. That was because a party making a statement in open court was exercising the right to freedom of expression (a right shared by the defendant, which was free to say what it wished about a settlement without interference by the claimant), and because the value of the procedure might be undermined if the settlement procedure were infiltrated by collateral disputes”
“Shortly after this a regional crime correspondent working for the BBC, Dan Johnson, contacted SYP and informed them that he was aware of the investigation. On15 July 2014 he met with SYP’s Head of Communications and Senior Investigating Officer.”
“The BBC has claimed in its defence that when Mr. Johnson approached SYP all he told them was that he believed the claimant was being investigated by SYP”
“On14 August 2014 SYP officers, accompanied by officers from Thames Valley Police, arrived at the claimant’s apartment to execute a search warrant. Thanks to the information provided to him by SYP, Mr. Johnson was already at the location of the search along with a camera crew; and a helicopter with a further camera crew on board also arrived about the same time.”
“My Lord, SYP accepted what my learned friend has said. SYP accepts that the claimant’s private information should not have been disclosed to the BBC, and that its reason for doing so, namely to protect the integrity of its investigation, was not an adequate reason for disclosing that information. SYP acknowledges that its conduct in this regard was unlawful and offers its sincere apologies to the claimant for the distress and humiliation he has suffered.”