Two newspapers, the Daily Mirror and Daily Mail, have been found guilty of contempt of court over their coverage following Levi Bellfield's conviction for the murder of Milly Dowler.
The high court ruled that they had published "seriously prejudicial" articles in a case brought against them by attorney general Dominic Grieve.
Jurors in the Bellfield case had still been considering a separate attempted abduction charge at the time. They were discharged after the trial judge decided that coverage of the verdict was prejudicial.
At a hearing in June - which I commented on at the time - the judges were told that stories in the Mail and Mirror were part of an "avalanche" of adverse publicity that followed the guilty verdicts against Bellfield while jurors were still deliberating over a separate charge against him.
The charge alleged that the day before Bellfield snatched Milly from a street in Walton-on-Thames Surrey in 2002, he attempted to abduct Rachel Cowles, then aged 11.
The newspapers argued that what they published could not have created a substantial risk of serious prejudice because the jury already knew of Bellfield's guilt.
But Grieve said after the decision: "This case shows why the media must comply with the Contempt of Court Act.
"It is unfortunate that the deluge of media coverage following the Milly Dowler verdict, not only by these papers but also other media outlets, led to the judge discharging the jury before they had completed their deliberations on a charge of attempted kidnap, ultimately depriving Rachel Cowles of a verdict in her case."
The high court has yet to decide on the penalty for the two papers.
Sources: BBC/Attorney general's office/Private communication I'll comment on this later
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