Taped hearing: jailed man freed

Date published: 05/10/2007

A man jailed for recording a court hearing relating to the killing of an 11-year-old girl more than 30 years ago has been freed after a decision by Appeal Court judges.

Patrick Cullinane (57), of Harrow Weald, Middlesex, was jailed for four months at Bradford after being found in contempt of court last month.

Cullinane, a keen but amateur follower of the law who has voluntarily represented people in court, had used a Dictaphone to record a bail hearing involving Ronald Castree (54), of Brandon Crescent, Shaw, who is accused of the the 1975 killing of Rochdale girl Lesley Molseed.

An associate, Noel O’Gara (62), was jailed for 14 days after being found guilty of taking photographs of police officers inside the precincts of the court.

But yesterday, at London’s Criminal Appeal Court, three judges ruled that Cullinane had been too harshly punished and reduced his sentence to 23 days, allowing for his immediate release from prison.

Mr Justice Underhill, who sat with Lord Justice Hooper and Mr Justice Griffith Williams, said Cullinane had been convinced that the man in court should not be facing prosecution for the notorious killing.

He had contacted the man in prison two weeks before the hearing and offered his services as a lay advocate.

At the conclusion of the bail hearing, held on September 7, Cullinane attempted to address the judge, but was denied the opportunity.

There were then reports that he and his associates had been taking photographs inside the court precincts, an offence under the Contempt of Court Act.

Both Cullinane and O’Gara were detained by officers and searched, revealing the presence of stored images on O’Gara’s camera phone and the tape recorder in Cullinane’s pocket.

They were both arrested, locked up overnight and found in contempt of court the following afternoon.

Sentencing Cullinane, the Recorder said that, although the recordings were nothing more than he could have obtained from court transcripts, there was the danger that the tape recorder could have been used to record other private conversations in the court building.