According to Press Gazette, the Daily Mirror’s Brian Reade opined in a Jan. 5 article “Men accused of serious sex offences should only be named if they are found guilty,” that naming the accused attaches a “terrible stigma” to the person who has only been accused — and not found guilty yet. Reade noted that while “naming a genuine rapist may encourage other victims to come forward,” there are many cases where people publicly accused have later been found not guilty — but not before the accused is “devastated, angry and disgraced, after being accused of the most sickening of crimes before the case was anywhere near court.”
Reade also pointed to the use of injunctions to protect an accused’s identity. “How can famous men be allowed to hide behind super injunctions that cover-up their private sins yet innocent men can be named and shamed before they are even investigated by police?”