Clarification of threads on current criminal cases

[GraysAnalogy]

Sorry to be a bother.

I just wanted to ask for some clarification in regards to your stance on us discussing current cases going through court.

It follows the deletion of the thread discussing the woman who made allegations against a security guard in primary, who is now facing charges of perverting the cause of justice.

Will this now be a forum wide rule applicable to all cases, or just when there's a comment in an article from the police asking for people to not discuss?

I completely understand that you want to comply with the police request, but this request can't be policed anyway and is it right to offer this woman protection from discussion and not others?

Just wanted to see where you stand so we know whether or not to post about such things (and hopefully save you time in deletion messages!)

Thankyou.

[AuntieStella]

IIRC, MNHQ have always deleted speculative posts about sub judice cases.

[GraysAnalogy]

That's not been my experience on mumsnet these past few years but I could be wrong! In fact I remember pages long threads of speculation in some cases.

[YetAnotherBeckyMumsnet]

Hi there

Thanks for posting. We normally take everything on a case-by-case basis, as we do with all reports. Generally speaking though, if the police or courts specifically request that something isn't discussed on the internet as it could prejudice an ongoing case, then we do have to remove posts that risk doing so. Our Talk Guidelines also specify that we will remove posts that break the law.

In any case, we will have a further chat about these kind of threads and whether an over-arching policy is needed, and will post back here soon.

Thanks

[GraysAnalogy]

Thanks for clearing that up, much appreciated.