Naming serious criminals ‘breaks human rights law’

BRITAIN'S elite crime-fighting force has been barred from naming and shaming some of the country's most serious criminals because it could infringe their human rights.

Leaders of the Serious Organised Crime Agency - which was set up two years ago to tackle drug gangs, people traffickers and other racketeers -wanted to publicise details of convicted criminals to make it harder for them to reoffend and to alert the public.

The plan was abandoned, however, after the agency's lawyers advised that it would breach the convicts' right to a family and private life and could amount to an "unfair" punishment.

In a bizzare twist, the lawyers said that the only exception is when the offenders' details have already been publicised by the media.

The advice relates to 41 criminals who have had "financial reporting orders" imposed on them by the courts following Soca investigations.

These orders require offenders to provide the authorities with full details of their financial activities on a regular basis and are intended to help police detect suspicious transactions. Failure to comply is a criminal offence and carries a potential prison sentence.

Soca, which is led by the former head of MI5 Sir Stephen Lander, wanted to publicise the names of convicts subject to these orders so that the public could inform the police if they suspected that they were engaged in illicit activity which was not being declared.

However, lawyers advised that a precedent set by a 2003 test case involving Essex Police meant the naming of these criminals would breach Article Eight of the Human Rights Act, which protects the right to a family and private life.

Soca confirmed the legal advice, which came despite the orders having been "handed down in open court".

An agency spokeswoman said: "Soca is not entitled to punish and, where there have been no media reports of financial reporting order cases, the information cannot properly be said to be in the public domain.

"The information would therefore only become known to the public in this context due to the actions of Soca and we consider that, in unreported cases at least, there would be an interference with Article Eight rights."

The spokeswoman added that "we have no problem providing the names which have already been subject to media reporting" and said that, as a result, two of the 41 orders currently monitored by Soca could be disclosed.

These were the case of Abdullah Baybasin, a Turkish drugs baron from Edgware, who was sentenced to 22 years in prison in 2006, after being convicted of conspiring to supply heroin, blackmail and pervert the course of justice. His trial at Woolwich crown court had heard that he ran a gang which specialised in extortion and protection rackets.

A financial reporting order was also imposed on gangland boss Terry Adams, from Barnet, who was jailed for seven years at the Old Bailey last year for money laundering.

Senior figures within Soca are known to be deeply frustrated by their inability to name other convicts subject to orders - many of whom are understood to be similarly serious offenders.