Something wrong with the Criminal Justice system

I did a piece on the prostitute murders in Ipswich a few days ago. Well since then, things have moved and a man has been charged with the five murders. If the police have the right man then it will be a source of considerable relief to the women of Ipswich, and congratulations to the force on finding the guilty party so quickly.

However the charged man, Stephen Wright, was not the first person arrested by the police in connection with this enquiry. The first was a 37 year old man named Tom Stephens who has now been released on police bail. He may well be interviewed further but at present one assumes he can be considered not a suspect.

Now I am not at all surprised, given the nature of the case, that it has taken two shots to get the right guy (we assume) and I do understand that an arrest needs to be made before the police have full interrogation rights so I have every sympathy with their situation vis a vis Tom Stephens.

What I find deeply disturbing is that once the arrest was made, the newspapers and TV had full access to Mr.Stephens' address, his photograph and to an interview he gave to a TV company some weeks before because he knew several of the murdered girls - which may have been one of the main reasons he was high on the list of suspects.

Now this is not a case of parking on double yellow lines. This is a case where 5 young women have been murdered, the type of case which stirs violent emotions. It never takes long for lynch mobs to gather whenever there are murdered girls or children.

Should we not ban the release of names, photographs and other personal details of an arrested man UNTIL he is actually charged with an offence? Particularly in cases as emotive and potentially damaging to the health of the accused as this one is.

Oh and I am not going to be accused of double standards. Although the photographs of both men are available to me and my blog only reaches the proverbial three men and a dog, I don't intend to print them.