Daily Mail

Dogged battle for open justice

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ON March 22, 2012, Mr Khuja was arrested at his home in Garsington, Oxford, on suspicion of causing prostituti­on of girls under 18.

Two days later his solicitors got a district judge at Wycombe Magistrate­s’ Court to grant a Contempt of Court Act order to prevent publicatio­n of his name. They claimed this could prevent him having a fair trial.

In January 2013 the Old Bailey grooming trial started and Mr Khuja’s lawyers convinced the judge to impose another contempt order banning publicatio­n of his name during the evidence. The judge ruled it could prejudice a future trial because he was then on bail. In July, the police tell Mr Khuja he has been released from bail without charge.

That October a judge ruled the Contempt of Court order should be lifted but his lawyers told the High Court he had a right to privacy under the European Human Rights Convention. Media lawyers said press freedom and open justice were more important.

The High Court rejected his applicatio­n as did the Court of Appeal in 2014. He was granted leave to appeal to the Supreme Court but yesterday, by a 5-2 majority, it ruled that he had no ‘reasonable expectatio­n of privacy’ under human rights laws.

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