Coroners and Justice Bill

I was going to come to that point—but, to answer it now, we believe that the publication can cause offence to victims and friends, but we think that it would be a step too far—and I am sure that noble Lords would descend on us like a ton of bricks—simply to ban publication. We believe that what is particularly offensive to victims, and to families and friends of those victims, is that the criminal is able to profit from his crime by subsequent publication. We have looked to all sorts of things to make this reasonable and fair, but we see the act of profit as particularly and excessively offensive. We believe that we could not possibly address the simple act of publication, because it would go too far the other way. I am sure that all noble Lords in this House would say that it would, and that it would interfere with freedom of speech. When an application for an order is made, the court will have a wide discretion in deciding whether to make an order and setting the amount that the offender has to repay. It will consider a number of factors before deciding whether to impose an order and, if so, the amount. These include whether details about the offence are central or integral to the publication as a whole; the social, cultural or educational value of the publication; the extent to which the material is in the public interest; and the degree to which the publication causes offence to victims and their families.