Go-ahead for kidnap Brits legal bid

Nov 21 2011

The Attorney General has won permission to launch contempt of court proceedings against Sky News for allegedly breaching an injunction taken out to protect the safety of kidnapped British couple Paul and Rachel Chandler.

Sky is accused of breaching an order prohibiting publication of details of the "health and welfare" of the couple as they were in the process of being released by Somali pirates.

They were kept captive for 13 months before being freed in November last year.

Attorney General Dominic Grieve QC says Sky breached the injunction by broadcasting details about their release before they had left Somalia and reached "a place of safety".

Sky asserts that it "scrupulously observed the terms of the injunction" and "followed the spirit, if not the letter" of the court order.