Under the Justice (Sexual Offences and Trafficking Victims) Act (Northern Ireland) 2022, which came into force last September, suspects of sexual offences cannot be named until they are charged or until 25 years after their death.

The change — one of a number of significant reforms in the Act — followed Sir John Gillen’s review of the administration of justice in serious sexual offence cases in Northern Ireland, which was published in 2019.

Two conjoined challenges were brought by media organisations who successfully argued that the provisions were incompatible with Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights by criminalising public interest journalism.

Handing down judgment on Friday, Mr Justice Humphreys said: “In very many cases, the publication of the name of an individual suspected of involvement in a sexual offence will not be a matter of public interest.

“However, in cases where it is, editors and broadcasters ought not to be exposed to the threat of prosecution and conviction without an opportunity to make this case.”

He therefore made a declaration that sections 12 to 16 of the 2022 Act “are not law since they are outside the legislative competence of the Northern Ireland Assembly as they are incompatible with the Article 10 ECHR rights of the applicants”.

David Dunlop KC and Laura Curran, instructed by Carson McDowell, acted for the publishers of Northern Ireland’s The Irish News, The Belfast Telegraph and Sunday Life, who were the first applicants in the case.

Jude Bunting KC and Lara Smyth, instructed by Ciaran O’Shiel of A&L Goodbody, acted for Times Media Limited, the British Broadcasting Corporation, Guardian News and Media Limited, News Group Newspapers Limited, and Associated Newspapers Limited, the second applicants.

The Department of Justice has six weeks to decide whether or not to appeal the judgment.

“We want to take legal advance speedily on the matter ahead of that deadline to ensure that we consider all of the ruling’s implications, not just for this particular legislation but for legislation passed by the House more widely,” justice minister Naomi Long told MLAs yesterday.