How LeicestershireLive won the right to name 16-year-old criminal twins Nero and Nevardo McLean

Until today, we were unable to name the two 16-year-old brothers, Nero and Nevardo McLean, who killed Junior Osborne in a savage attack on Leicester’s Narborough Road. Almost everyone under 18 who appears before the courts in this country receives protection in the form of reporting restrictions – an important safeguard to prevent publicity about children’s mistakes from ruining the rest of their lives.

But in the most serious cases, the press can, and does, petition the judge to lift these restrictions.

I went to cover the sentencing at Leicester Crown Court, which was due to start any time after 10.30am. I arrived early to let the clerk know that I would be making an application to the judge and already knew from a random conversation with one of the twins’ lawyers at Leicester Magistrates’ Court a few weeks earlier that my application was likely to be opposed. by the two sets of lawyers representing the twins.

READ MORE: Teenager who stabbed Junior Osborne in Leicester did not mean to cause serious injury, jury heard

I arrived expecting to have to stand up in court and make a verbal plea in front of everyone in the hearing, including not only the judge and 10 lawyers, but also the families of the five defendants. Instead, the clerk asked me to write an email to the judge, Judge Neil Calver, which made it easier to present my arguments as to why the restrictions should be lifted.

We set out how justice must be transparent – a standard reminder when journalists call for the lifting of reporting restrictions – and that protections for under-18s involved in legal proceedings were primarily aimed at protecting children in society. I argued that the fact that the twins would be adults by the time they were released meant that protection was much less necessary in this case.

The sentencing hearing started at 11.15am and the first thing the judge did was rule on my plea. The trial lasted more than 20 minutes, with the two lawyers – Crispin Aylett for Nero McLean and Martin Rutherford KC for Nevardo – taking turns arguing why the judge should reject my application and continue to give them twins the protection it has. granted them at the beginning of the trial.

The judge, after hearing from lawyers, went straight into his ruling, explaining that he would lift the reporting restrictions because people deserved to know about the case. He said: “The killing of Junior Osborne was unprovoked and brutal and took place in a public place.”

He added that unrestricted reporting of the case would serve as a deterrent to other young people carrying knives and that it would also be fairer for all five defendants to be named rather than just the three who were already 18 years and therefore had no lor. protected identities. He told the court: “I order that the reporting restrictions be lifted.”

And even though I suspect the judge already learned that way before reading my email, it felt good to have won a legal argument against two KCs – and more importantly, I hope lifting the reporting restrictions was what would have made Mr. Osborne’s family. i wanted too