A journalist should be forced to reveal his source for a story derived from the medical notes of the Moors murderer Ian Brady, the High Court in London was told yesterday.
Lawyers for Ashworth secure hospital on Merseyside argued that the public interest in protecting confidential medical records overrode that of the journalists’ right of expression.
Robin Ackroyd, a freelance, is contesting the action by Mersey Care NHS Trust for a court order requiring him to identify any employee who disclosed the information to him.
The material was the basis of an article that appeared in the Daily Mirror in 1999 detailing alleged hospital mismanagement surrounding the serial killer’s hunger strike and excessive forced feeding. Since then the hospital has pursued the source of the story through the courts.
The journalist contends that his and his source’s actions were in the public interest.
Advertisement
The hearing continues.