Tweeter held over sex case claims

By SHÂN ROSS
Published on 03/03/2013 00:00

A TWITTER user was arrested yesterday after claims he revealed the identity of an alleged child sex case victim involving Coronation Street star Michael Le Vell.

The 23-year-old man who was taken into custody yesterday morning sent the tweet on the day the actor, 48, appeared in court facing 19 charges.

By law, all victims of sex offences are granted anonymity for life. Police said the tweet, which was sent on Wednesday, also contained “personal opinion” about the alleged victim.

Det Chief Insp Chris Bridge of Greater Manchester Police said: “Maintaining the anonymity of victims of sex offences is absolutely vital and is something that really helps encourage them to come forward.

“Breaching this ruling is an extremely serious offence and that is why we launched an investigation as soon as we became aware.”

Twitter and Facebook face the same restrictions as publications about revealing victims’ details.

“Social media is an immensely powerful tool that does an awful lot of good,” said Bridge. “But it can also be used to spread rumour, speculation and in this case break the law.”

The actor was bailed to appear at Manchester Crown Court on 20 March. He has denied any wrongdoing and his solicitor said the charges would be “fully contested”.