David Eady Appeal for his conduct during the 2009 libel case involving Richard Desmond and Tom Bower. Eady disallowed several pieces of evidence against Desmond which the Appeal Court ruled were clearly relevant to the case. The Court of Appeal judges ruled that Eady's decision was "plainly wrong" and "might lead to a miscarriage of justice". After hearing the evidence, the jury found in favour of Bower. In December 2009, Eady commented in "The Guardian" on some of this criticism, saying that "The media have nowhere to vent their frustrations other than through personal abuse of the particular judge who happens to
Blasphemous libel on 8 July 2008 by the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008. The Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 created an offence of inciting hatred against a person on the grounds of their religion. Blasphemous libel is an offence under the common law of Northern Ireland. Section 7 of the Libel Act 1843 creates a defence. See also the Criminal Libel Act 1819, the Libel Act 1792 and section 8 of the Law of Libel Amendment Act 1888. Blasphemous libel Blasphemous libel was originally an offence under the common law of England. Today, it is an offence under the common