Oral answer to question provided on Monday, 12 March 2007 in the House of Lords, by Lord Goldsmith (Labour).

Crime: Rape

Answer: My Lords, this is a well travelled route and different committees have looked at it. We do not generally permit anonymity for defendants, whether it is an allegation of rape, murder, bank robbery or whatever it may be—one sees that all the time in the newspapers. There is a special case in relation to complainants of sexual assault because of the well founded belief that, unless there is anonymity, they will simply not come forward and make their allegations, which is a greater evil.

This is an answer to the Oral question asked on Monday, 12 March 2007 by Lord Elton (Conservative).

Question: My Lords, does the noble and learned Lord think that the outcome of the case would have been different if anonymity had been granted? If not, what is the argument against the anonymity for which his noble friend is arguing?

Secondary information