Three lifetime anonymity orders granted to offenders in Northern Ireland courts are to be challenged by a journalist after the High Court ruling in the David Walliams case. Court reporter Tanya Fowles, who has covered courts in Northern Ireland for more than 30 years, has notified the Lady Chief Justice that she wants the reporting bans overturned.

Two of the three people protected by the orders are convicted paedophiles. In all three cases, the defendants threatened to harm themselves or take their own lives if they were named. The orders were granted in cases at Newry Crown Court, Antrim Crown Court and Ballymena Magistrates' Court.

Self-harm threats now one a week

Ms Fowles said applications for reporting restrictions used to pop up a couple of times a year, but now it is one a week, with self-harm threats at the top of the list. She said there were about 10 cases in which reporting restriction orders on naming the defendant had been imposed. She had challenged all three lifetime orders before and been told she had no grounds. In the Newry case, she said, a reporting ban was lifted and then the accused told his lawyer he would leave the courthouse and run in front of a bus.

How the Walliams ruling changed things

In the Walliams case, the comedian, referred to in court as PPT, tried to secure a permanent injunction to stop The Guardian and ITV News publishing allegations of sexual misconduct against him. Mr Justice Nicklin accepted there was a genuine and grave risk of suicide, but ruled that the threat did not provide a proper legal basis for restraining publication. Mr Walliams denies the allegations. Ms Fowles said the ruling had upended everything.

Sources: The Irish Times, The UK FYI