If you’re a regular reader of the Adver’s court section, you’ll be used to seeing the name of the person who has committed the crime in the story.

This is seen by the law and the media as the status quo – if you’re the defendant in court, you can be named in the press.

However, there are exceptions.

Judges can make specific directions compelling journalists and members of the public not to identify defendants, as well as victims and witnesses, for a variety of reasons.

This was the case last week as I went to report on a shocking case of child cruelty, which was heard before Swindon Crown Court.

The man was appearing to be sentenced for months of offences against his son.

An order, under section 45 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act, was in place, which prevented any identification of the child, a vulnerable victim.

This goes further than simply saying that the media cannot name him.

Any information which leads to his identification would be a breach of the reporting restriction.

In this case, that means the media cannot name the man accused of the crime.

READ MORE: Father subjected his eight-year-old son to months of cruelty

I made an application to Judge Jason Taylor QC for him to remove the order, highlighting that it imposes a substantial restriction on the reporting of proceedings, in line with the common law principle of open justice.

But he decided the public interest was outweighed by the interests of the victim.