Got Him?

Has there ever been such media coverage of a man's arrest as for that of Tom Stephens today? Recorded interviews with the man given last week still being played on the BBC? Details of his 'MySpace' profile shown on television, reporters allowed to stand by the back garden fence just yards from his house while police carry out their work, his street already being described as perhaps "destined to become one of the most notorious in Britain"?

This is very peculiar stuff and concerns me. Innocent until proven guilty in a court of law is so vital a principle for our entire justice system in this country; it is the foundation upon which all else rests. So have the police sanctioned this broadcasting of his name and details to this extent, or are the media simply ignoring requests to be cautious? The latter is unlikely, so the former seems credible - which is near incredible.

What if it comes to trial and the case should be thrown out because of pre-trial prejudicial reporting and revelation? That would be calamitous if he is the murderer.

And if he is not the killer, then what does life hold for him now? Perhaps he has already confessed and there is incontrovertible objective evidence to back this up, but if he is just some attention seeking loon - standard behaviour in such murder cases for fakers to come forward claiming to have done the deed/s - the potential for tragic farce is there.

I hope they have 'got him', because if so then women of Ipswich are safer tonight. But I am still very uneasy about this unprecedented public exposure of a murder suspect.