The Attorney General is seeking to injunct the BBC at the High Court this week. The trial is being held in person before Mr Justice Chamberlain today, 1st March, and is expected to last for two days.
An introduction can helpfully be taken from a Judgment published following an interlocutory hearing in February:
“The BBC wants to broadcast a programme about an individual, “X”. The programme is to include the allegations that X is a dangerous extremist and misogynist who physically and psychologically abused two former female partners; that X is also a covert human intelligence source (variously referred to as a “CHIS” or an “agent”) for the Security Service (“MI5″); that X told one of these women that he worked for MI5 in order to terrorise and control her; and that MI5 should have known about X’s behaviour and realised that it was inappropriate to use him as a CHIS. The BBC says that the broadcast of this story, and the identification of X by name, is in the public interest.”
The redacted skeleton argument advanced on behalf of the BBC is available here
The redacted skeleton argument advanced on behalf of the Attorney General is in two parts:
Pages 1 – 20
Pages 21 – 30
Mouse in the Court 