Heavy secrecy over terror fuels suspicion, says expert

Scotland Yard's head of counterterrorism has criticised what he called excessive secrecy in Britain's terrorism trials, and he called for changes that would permit freer reporting and wider discussion.

Peter Clarke said limits on news reporting in terrorism cases have fed public distrust. He told a conference of security and law enforcement experts in Florence that limitations on news reporting of vital aspects of terrorism investigations contributed to broad public scepticism and suspicion about the scale of the threat.

"Over the past five years, I can hardly remember a time when there have not been court orders restricting what could be published about terrorist cases," Mr Clarke said.

He said he understood the need to protect jurors from news reports that might create prejudice, but said the internet made it unrealistic to think that jurors would not find such information anyway. "We could be bolder and, dare I say, trust jurors," he said.