The BBCA judge has said the case of a woman accused of illegally aborting her baby was lost because of “appalling and sloppy” reporting by the BBC.
Sophie Harvey, 25, and her boyfriend Elliot Benham, 25, admitted they had bought abortion pills online, but he denied taking them.
The couple went on trial at Gloucester Crown Court in May, but the jury was discharged following an application by their lawyers who cited BBC Points West’s inaccurate reports of the proceedings.
The BBC apologized to the court for “unintentional” errors.
The court heard the opening headlines of the Points West episode on May 16 showed archive footage of a property in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, with a tent and scenes of crime officers working, and said: “The remains were found in the garden.”
Later in the day’s trial report, a TV reporter said that Harvey had taken the bullet.
She insisted she had given birth to a stillborn baby in the bathroom of her home in Cirencester in 2018 and had not taken an abortion pill.
‘Errors in Reporting’
Tom Godfrey, who represented Harvey, applied to discharge the jury because of the reporting, saying it would go to the issue of his client’s credibility because he maintained he had not taken the abortion pill.
Judge Ian Lawrie QC said the BBC’s reporting was “appalling and sloppy” before dismissing the jury.
A BBC spokesman said: “The BBC apologized to the court for inadvertent errors in some of our reporting of the trial in May 2024.
“Our apology was accepted by the judge hearing the case.”
A new trial was scheduled for February 2025, but Harvey and Benham pleaded guilty to a new charge of conspiracy to procure poison with intent to cause an abortion. He also admitted to trying to hide the birth of the child.
Harvey was sentenced to an 18-month community order and Benham was ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.