Broadcaster for contempt charge over Jill Meagher case

An Australian broadcaster is to be charged with contempt of court over comments he made on his website about Adrian Bayley, who last week pleaded guilty to the murder and rape of Irish woman Jill Meagher in Melbourne.

Victorian Supreme Court judge Geoffrey Nettle today ordered contempt proceedings be launched against Derryn Hinch for an article and link published on his website relating to Bayley.

Last Friday, after Bayley admitted guilt, the court issued a suppression order prohibiting publication of certain matters relating to the case.

This morning, Mr Hinch wrote on his Twitter account that “Justice Nettle orders I be charged with contempt of court over editorial on Jill Meagher case. Methinks I’ll be the media whipping boy.”

Mr Hinch told reporters he takes the charges "very seriously" but will not tone down his views.

"On my blog will I take it easy? No . . . I don't take it easy, never have, never will."

Mr Hinch, a radio and television broadcaster, has for decades campaigned against secrecy in court proceedings.

In 1987 he served 12 days in prison for revealing the prior convictions of a paedophile priest.

In 2011 he was sentenced to five months of home detention for breaching suppression orders by naming two serial sex offenders. He reportedly avoided jail because he on the waiting list for a liver transplant, which he has since undergone.

Mr Hinch said the Bayley case highlights the role of social media in legal matters.

“Mainstream media has gone to the edge [on the Bayley case] and social media has pushed it over the edge,” he said.

“The courts are absolutely perplexed and mystified by social media. They don’t know how to control it . . . I’m the whipping boy.”

Bayley is due to reappear in court on June 11th for a plea and sentencing hearing.