Fury as Sara Sharif judge says the Press can't be trusted to be fair as he controversially blocked the identification of professionals

The High Court judge who controversially blocked the identification of professionals in the Sara Sharif case was accused of an ‘unjustified’ attack on the Press last night after suggesting that the media cannot be trusted to report fairly. In an extraordinary broadside, Mr Justice Williams said he imposed an anonymity order to prevent a ‘virtual lynch mob’ because he did not believe the media could be trusted to report matters in a fair, accurate and responsible way. Defending those involved yesterday, Mr Justice Williams said: ‘Seeking to argue that individual social workers or guardians or judges should be held accountable is equivalent to holding the lookout on the Titanic responsible for its sinking rather than the decision-making of Captain Smith and the owners of the White Star Line, or blaming the soldiers who went over the top in the Somme on July 1, 1916, for the failure of the offensive rather than the decision-making of the generals who drew up the plans.’ He warned that naming the family court judge would deliver a ‘scapegoat’ and ‘make them a lightning rod for all the negative attention of the virtual lynch mob’. Mr Justice Williams said he imposed an anonymity order on professionals in the Sara Sharif case because he did not believe the media could be trusted to report matters in a fair, accurate and responsible way After the conviction of Sara’s father, Urfan Sharif, 42, and stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, for the ten-year-old’s murder, the High Court banned the naming of any professionals involved in the case ‘So with respect it seems to me that to create an assumption that the Press reporting will be fair, accurate and responsible is to create the equivalent of the Emperor’s New Clothes narrative which everyone knows is false, but no one dare state.’ Dawn Alford, executive director of the Society of Editors, said: ‘We are deeply concerned by the remarks made by Mr Justice Williams... To suggest that the Press cannot be trusted to report fairly is a sweeping and unjustified generalisation that undermines the vital role of journalism in holding power to account.’ Dame Rachel de Souza, the Children’s Commissioner, has said ‘Sara was failed in the starkest terms’.