THE PARENTS of the nine children involved in the Orkney inquiry last
night tried to stop the BBC from using tape recordings of interviews
with the children when they were on the mainland.
They were seeking an interim interdict at the Court of Session to
prevent use of the extracts in a forthcoming Panorama television
programme.
However, the action was temporarily halted after both sides agreed the
hearing should go ahead next Tuesday. The BBC gave an undertaking not to
refer to, or broadcast in any form, any material from tapes of
interviews which referred to any of the children before the hearing took
place.
Taped interviews were carried out by police officers and social
workers from the Royal Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Children while the children were the subject of place of safety orders
on the mainland.
The parents from the four families claimed that some tapes had come
into the possession of the BBC which planned to use extracts in the
Panoroma programme. It was not known if these involved any of the nine
children or the children of the W family whose allegations led to the
children being taken into care.
The parents argued that broadcast of any such tapes would lead to the
identification of the nine children.
All nine children and their parents had been receiving psychiatric
treatment following the release of the children and their return home in
April last year. It was possible that they would be further traumatised
as a result of tapes being broadcast.
The action before Lord Coulsfield opened with brief submissions over
the possibility of material being used for trailers in advance of the
programme. Mr Nigel Morrison, QC for the parents, said he was satisfied
with the undertaking from the BBC not to broadcast material before next
week's hearing.
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