Paedophile loses plea to stay anonymous on TV show

A convicted paedophile failed in a High Court action yesterday to force the BBC to hide his identity in a forthcoming documentary on child abusers. The man had claimed he would be at risk of attack by "vigilantes" if his photograph was shown on television.

The claimant, who cannot be named for legal reasons and must be referred to only as "A", last year admitted possession and distribution of pornographic pictures of children and was given a three-year community rehabilitation order with a condition of treatment.

He is to appear for three minutes on Thursday in a BBC2 series about the work of Scotland Yard's paedophile unit. The man claimed that if he was identified on the documentary, The Hunt for Britain's Paedophiles, he would be at risk of assault.

Mr A's barrister, Keir Starmer QC, told the court: "We say there is a real risk of physical attack if his name and image are shown together, along with adverse comment from police officers about the leniency of his sentence." That combination, he said, was what led to the risk. He added that the man's image had not been disclosed before, that he was "not a notorious offender" and had no previous convictions.

But the judge refused to grant an injunction requiring the BBC to broadcast the programme with Mr A's face disguised or blanked out. Mr Justice Ouseley said: "There is, of course, a degree of risk to anyone who is identified as a paedophile. There is a degree of risk of something very serious happening to them, but I am not satisfied from the material that it is established that the combination of name, filming and commentary will establish that risk."

The judge refused Mr A permission to appeal, although he can still apply directly to the Appeal Court, and ordered that an anonymity order preventing publication of the man's name must stay for a further 24 hours pending a possible appeal.

The TV series follows the work of the paedophile unit and chronicles efforts to catch the worst offenders. The documentary team was given unprecedented access and had amassed 12,000 hours of material. Among the investigations featured is Operation Doorknock, which led to members of a paedophile ring being sentenced at the Old Bailey for offences from 20 years ago.