Iain Dale's Diary

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Murat Wins Court Case

Iain Dale 2:41 PM

Last May I didn't make myself very popular with THIS post, where I defended Robert Murat, the man subjected to disgraceful newspaper headlines regarding the Madeleine McCann case. I wrote...

I suspect I am not alone in feeling deeply uncomfortable at the coverage given to Robert Murat, the man being questioned by Portuguese police over the disappearance of three year old Madeleine McCann. The Daily Telegraph had a huge picture of him on their front page this morning and the 24 hour news channels are giving him blanket coverage. He hasn't been arrested, he hasn't been charged, yet the media are acting as if he's been banged to rights already.

The last time this happened was in Ipswich when a man was given similar treatment over being questioned over the death of the murder of the five prostitutes. He was released without charge, yet his life was left in ruins after he was turned over in the media. News editors should be asking themselves some searching questions today.

Today, he won his case and has been awarded £550,000 damages. The British press got off lightly in my opinion.

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