Section 203 Authorised firearms officers: anonymity ordersI1

United Kingdom

(1)

An anonymity order, in relation to a person (“D”) charged with (or convicted of) a qualifying offence, is an order made by a court that requires specified measures to be taken in relation to D to ensure that the identity of D is withheld from the public in proceedings before the court.

(2)

For the purposes of subsection (1), the kinds of measures that may be required to be taken in relation to D include measures for securing one or more of the following—

(a)

that identifying details relating to D be withheld from the public in proceedings before the court;

(b)

that D is screened to any specified extent;

(c)

that D’s voice is subjected to modulation to any specified extent.

(3)

An anonymity order may not require—

(a)

D to be screened to such an extent that D cannot be seen by—

(i)

the judge or other members of the court (if any), or

(ii)

the jury (if there is one);

(b)

D’s voice to be modulated to such an extent that D’s natural voice cannot be heard by any persons within paragraph (a)(i) or (ii).

(4)

The court that made an anonymity order may vary or discharge the order if satisfied that it is necessary in the interests of justice to do so.

(5)

In this section—

“qualifying offence” has the meaning given by section 200 (2);
“specified” means specified in the anonymity order concerned.

Annotations

Commencement

I1: S. 203 in force at 29.6.2026, see s. 255(3)(h)