The government is to ban payments to witnesses by newspapers seeking to buy up people involved in prominent cases (21) the trial of Rosemary West.
In a significant (22) of legal controls over the press, Lord Irvine, the Lord Chancellor, will introduce a (23) bill that will propose making payments to witnesses (24) and will strictly control the amount of (25) that can be given to a case (26) a trial begins.
In a letter to Gerald Kaufman, chairman of the House of Commons media select committee, Lord Irvine said he (27) with a committee report this year which said that self regulation did not (28) sufficient control. (29) of the letter came two days after Lord Irvine caused a (30) of media protest when he said the (31) of privacy controls contained in European legislation would be left to judges (32) to Parliament.
The Lord Chancellor said introduction of the Human Rights Bill, which (33) the European Convention on Human Rights legally (34) in Britain, laid down that everybody was (35) to privacy and that public figures could go to court to protect themselves and their families~
"Press freedoms will be in safe hands (36) our British judges, "he said.
Witness payments became an (37) after West was sentenced to 10 life sentences in 1995. Up to 19 witnesses were (38) to have received payments for telling their stories to newspapers. Concerns were raised (39) witnesses might be encouraged to exaggerate their stories in court to (40) guilty verdicts.
