Anyone remember when News of the World started 'naming and shaming'?
www.theguardian.com/society/2000/aug/04/childprotection
News of the World suspends name-and-shame campaign
The News of the World has announced it will "suspend" its controversial name-and-shame campaign, and will instead continue to promote the implementation of new child protection legislation.
In a statement, the newspaper said it would continue its "For Sarah" campaign, named after murdered schoolgirl Sarah Payne, by campaigning for a public register of sex offenders.
The newspaper's reversal comes after a string of vigilante attacks on men either named or mistakenly identified as those named by the campaign, and sustained criticism of the campaign by police and child protection groups.
A statement from Sarah's parents, Sara and Michael Payne, was read out at the News of the World press conference in London. The statement read: "We support the discontinuing of the News of the World campaign.
"Sarah's Law will give back power to parents to enable them to protect their children. This debate was long overdue and we look forward to hearing the Home Secretary's response to this decision."
The paper, which aimed to name 150 paedophiles, condemned vigilante action throughout the campaign. *Its decision comes after a fifth man became the latest target of vigilante violence.
Surrey police said malicious letters were sent to a man with the same name as a convicted paedophile identified in the News of the World on July 30. Several neighbours living near Gerald Baker, 66, of Onslow Village, near Guildford, received the letter telling them he was the man identified by the paper.
The letter claimed to be from an organisation called Antimatter who said they provided "a service to the community by investigating and identifying anti-social behaviour", a Surrey police spokeswoman said.
On Wednesday, Michael Horgan, 55, became the innocent victim of the same group after it sent 500 similar letters to his neighbours.
Police had to provide both men with overnight protection as well as leafleting their neighbours to make it clear they were the victims of mistaken identity.
Last night, more than 150 people rioted outside the Portsmouth flat of convicted paedophile Victor Burnett, who was also named in the newspaper's campaign. During the three hours of violence which left a policeman in hospital, Mr Burnett's flat was stoned, a car outside was overturned and set on fire, and a brick was thrown into the face of a policeman.
The newspaper had claimed Burnett was not listed on the Sex Offenders Register because he offended before the law came into force, and was still a threat to children.
However, local police, who condemned the violence, stated they were fully aware of his activities and his whereabouts. Hampshire Police's deputy chief constable, Ian Readhead, said: "The vast majority of people on the streets of Paulsgrove last night were not concerned parents.
"They were people using the current debate over sex offenders as an excuse to carry out active disorder and violence."