The Spectator magazine was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay £2,000 to the parents of black teenager Stephen Lawrence today after admitting an article it published jeopardised the trial of two men later convicted of his murder.
It admitted a charge relating to an article published on November 17 last year in which columnist Rod Liddle described defendants Gary Dobson and David Norris as "white trash" while the trial was taking place at the Old Bailey.
It also contained prejudicial information about their previous convictions and behaviour which, although previously in the public domain, was subject to reporting restrictions during the trial.
Trial judge Mr Justice Treacy warned jurors not to read the article and referred it to the Attorney General for breaching three specific sections of a contempt order placed on the case.
Dobson and Norris were convicted of the 1993 murder in January and jailed for life.
At Westminster Magistrates' Court today the magazine's publisher Spectator 1828 Ltd admitted a charge of breaching a court order made under Section 83 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003.
Its solicitor Brian Spiro apologised unreservedly to the Lawrence family and everyone involved with the case for what he said had been a "sad sequence of events" that led to the article being published.
