*Please note I have included this as a second inquest report in absence of court reporting. During my time at Cambridgeshire Live I attended one court hearing and a preliminary hearing. However, it was an editorial decision not to continue and publish the first court hearing due to the length and time of the case. For the preliminary hearing, we published an article online, however, as it was a preliminary hearing there wasn’t much I could report, so it was very short. I have included the link to this article below with details, but have included this extra inquest to strengthen this section.

A Cambridgeshire teenager who was killed in a crash in the early hours of August 28, 2021, was driving at "excessive speed" while 'intoxicated', an inquest has heard. At the inquest into his death at Lawrence Crown Court, Huntingdon, on January 24, Jude Dunn's mother, Rachel, described him as a teenager with "a lot of life to live", saying "he will never get to live those dreams".

Jude, 19, of Holmes Road, Glinton, near Peterborough, was driving his mother's Audi TT on a provisional licence at around 5.30am the morning of August 28 when it left the road and crashed into a ditch on Crowland Road, near Eye Green. The teenager died at the scene, while a passenger, a 17 year old girl from Eye, was taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital with serious injuries.

Mr Dunn held a provisional driving license at the time and could be "considered to be an inexperienced driver" the inquest heard from Mr Burgin, a former PC with Cambridgeshire Constabulary. He also added the 19-year-old was "in excess of the legal limit of alcohol".

Inquest

I attended this inquest on 24 January, 2023 at Lawrence Crown Court, Huntingdon while working at Cambridgeshire Live as a news reporter. Having regular checked the Coroner and Inquests page on the Cambridgeshire County Council website in my role, I found this inquest of Jude which I thought would be of interest to our readers given his young age and the incident that occurred.

On the day, I was the only news outlet to be in attendance which showed our dedication to reporting local news and something that is in the public interest to our Cambridgeshire readers, given the shocking news that he passed away at 19 years old.

While reporting on the inquest and sharing news of Jude’s passing, it was important that the story didn't reflect badly on Jude in anyway or point blame at anyone involved. Findings from the inquest found that he died from driving at ‘excess speed’ and had been driving his parents car, with the coroner also saying “I consider his level of intoxication to be a contributor".

I ensured my reporting was balanced with quotes from the coroner’s findings and some quotes from the family, including a quote from his mum which positively outlined his previous driving experience.

I had included further quotes from the family from this inquest which were accurate, but after the article was published we received a complaint from the family. They didn’t know that press would be in attendance, despite it being held in public and the press being allowed to attend without prior warning. Considering the sensitivity of the story we removed some of the quotes from the family so they felt more comfortable. Although the quotes were correct and legally we didn’t need to remove them, it was an act of good will to respect for their family life and as not to be an intrusion into grief.

Legal considerations:

Inquests are held in public, meaning I had the right, as the press, to attend this inquest. As inquests are court proceedings we as the press are protected under absolute privilege from any defamation, as long as our reporting is fair, accurate and published contemporaneously, which I ensured my reporting was. I made notes throughout the inquest and ensured all my quotes were credited to the right person. I reported fairly on the inquest, with accurate quotes from the family members and I explained the coroner’s findings correctly. We also made sure to publish the report on Cambridgeshire Live on the same day I had attended the inquest.

Coroners can make order restricting media reports of inquests, however, there were no restrictions in place so I was free to report the inquest in full.

IPSO considerations:

When it came to the ethical side of reporting this inquest, I made sure to handle it with sympathy and discretion, with the publication handled sensitively, as not to be an intrusion into grief or shock (clause 4) to the family. Under IPSO, I also made sure that my reporting was accurate (clause 1) from what I heard in the inquest. I also reported with an open and transparent view, while documenting the coroner’s findings that would in the public interest.

Court reporting - Preliminary hearing

Trial date set as 81-year-old accused of murdering his wife

As mentioned above, I attended this preliminary hearing, on 12 January, 2023 and a short article was published. This story was about a man who had been arrested on suspicion of murdering his wife.

As it was a preliminary hearing, automatic reporting restrictions were in place under Section 52A of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, meaning it limits what I could report and publish contemporaneously from this hearing.

From my reporting at the preliminary hearing I included the below information:

• The name of court and magistrates names

• The accused’s name, age, home address and occupation

• The charge in full or summarised

• The next preliminary hearing date and location

Under the Contempt of Court Act 1981 it would also be a strict liability to publish anything from the preliminary hearing that could create a substantial risk of serious prejudice or impediment to particular legal proceedings which are active, which this was.