An apology: Coverage of the Suffolk murders
20 Dec 2006
Following a detailed and frank exchange of views with Suffolk Police, DeadBrain would like to apologise for its coverage of the recent murders in the Ipswich area. In common with other news organisations and the Daily Mirror, we named the two men who have thus far been arrested. However, in the interests of them receiving a fair trial – should they, in fact, be charged with anything – we accept that it was unwise to publish their pictures above captions such as "The killer unmasked" and "Evil murdering scum".We further accept that it was a mistake to publish extensive profiles of the two men, including quotes from their neighbours saying that they had "always looked a bit iffy" and "were probably guilty". Our feature, "Oh my god, I'm living opposite a serial killer", could on reflection give a juror the impression that the man in question was guilty of some offence.
DeadBrain also regrets publishing a downloadable wall chart, "How these evil men committed their crimes", and would like to make it clear to Suffolk Police that it will not be repeating the idea. With hindsight, we further realise that using actors wearing masks of the two men to film a reconstruction could potentially prejudice a trial and we have asked YouTube to remove the video from its website.
