THE Spectator magazine has been fined £3,000 and ordered to pay £2,000 to the parents of teenager Stephen Lawrence after admitting an article it published jeopardised the trial of two men later convicted of his murder.
It admitted a charge relating to an article published on November 17 last year in which columnist Rod Liddle described defendants Gary Dobson and David Norris as "white trash" while the trial was taking place at the Old Bailey.
It also contained prejudicial information about their previous convictions and behaviour which, although previously in the public domain, was subject to reporting restrictions during the trial.
At Westminster Magistrates' Court, the magazine's publisher Spectator 1828 Ltd admitted breaching a court order.
Its solicitor Brian Spiro apologised unreservedly to the Lawrence family and everyone involved with the case for what he said had been a "sad sequence of events".
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