The Society of Editors has welcomed a decision by the Court of Appeal that three judges who oversaw family court proceedings concerning the care of Sara Sharif before she was murdered, can be named next week.

The decision follows a successful appeal by media outlets including PA Media and the BBC, who fought to lift a ban on naming the judges involved in the historical family court cases related to the 10-year-old. Mr Justice Williams had previously ruled in December 2024 that the media could not name the judges involved, alongside social workers and guardians due to a “real risk” or harm from a “virtual lynch mob”.

In a written judgement, published today, Sir Geoffrey Vos who oversaw the appeal alongside Lady Justice King and Lord Justice Warby, wrote that Mr Justice Williams did not have the jurisdiction to make the anonymity order alongside the “procedural irregularity and unfairness” of the original ruling. The ruling also said that “the judge lost sight of the importance of press scrutiny to the integrity of the justice system.”

Responding to today’s decision, Dawn Alford, Executive Director of the Society said: “The Society of Editors welcomes the decision by the Court of Appeal to allow the media to name the judges involved in the historic family court proceedings concerning the care of Sara Sharif.

“The original ruling was both unprecedented and unfair and fundamentally at odds with the principle of open justice. As recognised by the Appeal Court, the media has a duty to scrutinise decisions made by those in power and, at a time when admirable efforts are being made elsewhere in the family court system to improve openness and transparency, this original ruling risked fatally undermining public confidence and trust in the justice system as a whole.”