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Peaches Geldof and contempt of court: How tweeting mothers' names in Ian Watkins case could mean trouble

By Mark Leiser, Research Fellow

December 2, 2013 | 3 min read

Peaches Geldof may be in trouble with the law after tweeting the names of the two mothers who allowed their babies to be abused by convicted paedophile Ian Watkins.

Geldof, the daughter of Live Aid founder Bob Geldof and the late Paula Yates, may now be investigated for contempt of court after breaching the lifetime anonymity protection orders that exist for victims of sexual abuse. The mothers, who were convicted alongside Watkins, were identified on an American website and Geldof is alleged to have sent the tweet after gaining the information from that source. It is an offence to identify the babies, who are thought to now be identifiable after the mothers were named and shamed.

Geldof has now apologised for sending the tweet to nearly 160,000 followers. She said: "I deleted my tweets, however, and apologise for any offence caused, as at the time of tweeting had only seen everyone tweeting the names at me so had assumed as they were also up on news websites and the crown courts public file that they had been released for public knowledge."For all of those out there tweeting me about naming the paedophile mothers involved in the Ian Watkins case, the names have been in the public domain since December 12th when the court named them and put them up on their website for all to see."Half of Twitter had tweeted out the names also aside from my (now deleted) tweet."The babies will most probably be given new identities to protect them from future abuse from other paedos who know who they are / their names from the videos Watkins uploaded to paedo websites."The question of whether or not to give anonymity to criminals in cases like this will go on forever. However these women and Watkins will be getting three meals a day, a double bed, cable TV etc, all funded by the tax payer alongside not being named apparently. It makes me sad."Will check my facts before tweeting next time. Apologies and lesson learned."Detective chief inspector Peter Doyle, of South Wales Police, said: "We are aware that the names of Ian Watkins' co-defendants have been published on social media channels."Clearly, there is strong public feeling about this case and many people are using social media forums to talk about the issues involved. We are currently in consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service regarding the matter and will take action if appropriate"Our primary objective as an organisation remains the safeguarding of vulnerable people and children.Victims of sexual abuse have a right to anonymity in order to protect their future welfare and we urge those discussing the issues raised online to be careful about using information that identifies victims in cases like this."This is not the first time users of social media have had brushes with the law after revealing protected identities online. A man who tweeted images purporting to be child killer Jon Venables received a 14-month suspended sentence after admitting contempt of court. And nine people were each ordered to pay footballer Ched Evans' rape victim £624 after they admitted revealing her identity on social networks.

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