The Rt Hon Lord Justice Scott Baker
Assistant Deputy Coroner for Inner West London

Operational Note

The Opening of the Inquests
and Media Accreditation

28 September 2007

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The Inquests into the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales and Mr Dodi Al Fayed will open on Tues 02 October 2007 in Court 73, Royal Courts of Justice, The Strand at 9.30am.

Media accreditation is now complete and the collection of passes will take place on Monday 01 October 2007 between 11.00 – 3.00pm at The Court Annex, East Quad, RCJ.

Media Passes.

The following 25 “gold” passes for Court room seats have been allocated by the Court:

001	BBC	002	BBC	003	BBC
004	ITN	005	ITN	006	Channel 4
007	Sky News	008	Sky News	009	PA
010	AP	011	Reuters	012	AFP
013	Daily Telegraph	014	Times	015	Guardian
016	Independent	017	Daily Mail	018	Daily Express
019	Evening Standard	020	Sun	021	Daily Mirror
022	Shropshire Star	023	CBS News	024	NBC
025	ABC News

The following “silver” passes for seats in the Court Annex have been requested and reserved:

BBC x 10	Observer	ABC (US) x 4	The Lawyer
ITN x 2	Independent on Sunday	Fox News (US) x 2	Solicitors Journal
Sky News x 6	Mail on Sunday	CNN (US) x 2	Joshua Rozenberg
Channel Four x 2	Sunday Express x 2	Los Angeles Times (US)	Marcel Berlins
GMTV x 2	News of the World	New York Daily News (US)	Martyn Gregory
Daily Telegraph x 2	Sunday Mirror	New York Post (US)	Dennis Woolf Productions
The Times x 2	Shropshire Star	People Magazine (US)	Irish Times
Financial Times	Press Association x 3	CBC (Canada) x 2	RTE News x2
Guardian x 2	Associated Press	Seven Network (Aus)	Creative Touch Films
Independent x 2	Reuters	ABC (Aus) x 2	High Ct Journalists Assoc
Daily Mail x 2	APTN	Der Tagesspiegel (Ger)	Associated Rediffusion
Daily Express x 2	AFP x2	El Pais (Spain) x 2	Bloomberg (US)
Evening Standard x 2	Time Magazine	Tele 5 / Punto Radio (Spa)	Heart FM
Sun x 2	New Statesman	Franco AM (France)	El Correo (Spain)
Daily Mirror x 2	Spectator	Radio France (France)	TF1 (France) x2
Daily Star x 2	Newsweek	NHK (Japan)	AAP (Aus)
Sunday Telegraph	CBS News (US) x 4	Legal Week	Channel Cuatro (Spain)
Sunday Times	NBC (US) x 2	Law Society Gazette	La 7 Televisioni (Spain)
			El Mundo (Spain)

Passes can be collected and signed for on behalf of the organisation by any single individual bearing proof of identity (NUJ card, other press card, or a signed letter of authority on headed notepaper).

Passes are valid for the duration of the Inquests and once signed for they become the responsibility of the media organisation.  Passes are written in the name of the media organisation only and can be transferred internally between correspondents.  Correspondents attending the Inquests must also carry their NUJ card, other press card, or a signed letter of authority on headed notepaper.

Some further capacity exists within the Court Annex and any other media organisation wishing to attend should apply to Richard Bailey

Media Attending the Inquests

All media attending the Inquests are advised to use the Bell Yard entrance which will be specially opened to speed up security procedures.  Court Security procedures will be as usual with no consideration given to the possession of any media passes.

Entry to the RCJ will commence at least 60 mins prior to the start of proceedings each day, but with some flexibility on days of very high interest.

Signage will direct media attending the Inquest to either the Courtroom or the Court Annex in the East Quad.  Signage will be clearly displayed between Bell Yard and the Court/Annex.

Court 73

• Access to the Courtroom will commence 15 mins prior to the start of the session.  Early arrivals are invited to wait in the Court Annex.
• Any Court seats un-occupied one hour into proceedings will be offered for the remainder of that day to any media in the Annex.
• Media in the Court room must remain seated throughout each session.
• All electronic communications must be switched off inside the Court room.

The Court Annex

• The annex is an extension of the courtroom and as such the usual rules for court reporting apply.  Mobile phones and Blackberries must be turned off.
• The Coroner has agreed to the use of laptops in the Court Annex for the purposes of note taking only.  This permission is granted on the agreement that they will be entirely stand-alone without any connection to either power or the internet.
• Anyone found attempting to use their laptop in any other way, including the recording or broadcasting of proceedings will have their accreditation removed.
• A number of daily passes are available for occasional visitors.

Court Artists

Court Artists will have dedicated seats in the Court Annex and will be invited to rotate through a “hot seat” in the Court room itself.

Court Reporting

The usual court reporting rules, especially in relation to the prohibition of filming, photography and recording in court, will apply to both the Courtroom and the Court Annex.  The Coroner is able to make Orders under Sections 4 and 11 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981.

Media in the Annex must ensure that they only report proceedings which are heard in the presence of the Jury.

Any directions and reporting restrictions made by the Coroner will be posted on the Inquests website as soon as they are made.

For any queries, please contact Richard on 020 7073 1709 or 07714 756215

Ends