Plan to make media payments to witnesses a criminal offence

Journalists and editors who agree to pay witnesses in criminal trials for their stories will be guilty of a criminal offence which could be punishable by prison under proposals published by the lord chancellor yesterday.

Witnesses and potential witnesses who agree to take money would also commit a crime.

The proposals follow concerns about the impact of chequebook journalism on the murder trial of Rosemary West, and the sex assault trials of the pop star Gary Glitter and the teacher Amy Gehring.

Another reform could leave media organisations with a bill for millions of pounds in legal costs if material they publish causes a criminal trial to collapse. The first trial of Leeds United footballers Lee Bowyer and Jonathan Woodgate, which disintegrated last April after a story was published by a Sunday newspaper, is thought to have cost the taxpayer £8m.

Baroness Scotland, minister in the lord chancellor's department, said: "A trial's abandonment not only seriously affects the administration of justice, it can prove to be very expensive for the taxpayer."

The new law on witness payments would make it an offence to make or receive payments to witnesses or potential witnesses for their stories, or to enter into agreements to make or receive payments.

The lord chancellor, Lord Irvine, said: "Payments create a real risk of encouraging witnesses to exaggerate their evidence in court so as to make it more newsworthy, or to withhold relevant evidence from the court in order to give newspapers exclusive coverage later on.

"Where the court is aware of a media contract, juries may be concerned that the witness's evidence has been affected."

Publishers, editors and re porters could face up to two years in jail or an unlimited fine in the crown courts, or one year and £2,500 in the magistrates' courts.

The Society of Editors questioned the need for a blanket ban. Executive director Bob Satchwell said: "There is no evidence that trials have been prejudiced and the media is well aware of its responsibilities to the administration of justice."

Baroness Scotland said that cash rewards for information put up by newspapers may also fall within the scope of the new measures.

She said there was "real concern" about last week's development in the Damilola Taylor murder trial, when the judge threw out the evidence of one of the prosecution's chief witnesses. He said the £50,000 reward offered by the Daily Mail had acted as an "inducement" to the 14-year-old girl.