British law cannot prevent the child killer, Ms Mary Bell, profiting from a book about her crimes, the Attorney General, Mr John Morris QC, said yesterday.
As the sister of one of Ms Bell's victims said she was prepared to take legal action to prevent Ms Bell profiting from her brother's death, Mr Morris admitted there was "no realistic prospect" of obtaining an injunction against Ms Bell because of her co-operation in the book Cries Unheard.
Speaking on BBC Radio 5, Mr Morris said he regretted no legal action could be taken to prevent Ms Bell profiting from her crimes. "Of course I would have liked very much if I had been able to act, but I cannot invent new law which is not there. I cannot go to court unless I am reasonably confident that I can succeed," he said.
Mrs Pat Kennedy, whose stepbrother, Brian Howe, was killed by Ms Bell, said she did not object to the book being written but she did not want Ms Bell to profit from it. "As it stands now she is being paid for being a criminal and we object to the fact that she is getting money from it," she said.
In considering legal action to prevent Ms Bell profiting from the book, the Attorney-General's office examined legislation banning criminals from receiving money from their crimes, and the court case last year that banned the spy, Mr George Blake, from taking the profits of his memoirs.
However, Mr Morris pointed out, Ms Bell's crimes took place in 1968 and the Proceeds of Crime Act 1995 set down only a six-year ban preventing criminals profiting from their crimes. And in Mr Blake's case he had broken the Official Secrets Act by selling his memoirs and the law was therefore able to prevent him from receiving £90,000 in royalties.
The Bell case was "very different" from Mr Blake's case, Mr Morris declared. "In particular, Ms Bell has not committed a criminal offence under existing law by co-operating in the writing of the book."
Earlier, the Prime Minister, Mr Blair, reiterated the government's intention to look at possible changes in the law to prevent such cases in the future. Several campaign groups have argued this week that when the two boys who murdered Jamie Bulger are released they should not be allowed to profit from any publications about the case.
Mr Blair condemned the media "harassment" of Ms Bell and her 14-year-old daughter, but said Ms Bell should not have profited from her co-operation with the author, Gitta Sereny.
"Mary Bell has served her sentence. She has undergone rehabilitation. I don't think anyone supports the type of harassment of her daughter and herself that we have seen, but I still think it is wrong that people make money out of crimes they have committed, especially ones like this," Mr Blair said.
In a separate development, the Official Solicitor, Mr Peter Harris, who is the legal guardian of Ms Bell's daughter, obtained a High Court injunction to "restrain further identification or investigation or harassment" of the girl. Earlier this week, Ms Bell and her daughter were forced to go into hiding after journalists discovered where they were living and camped outside their house.
The injunction specifically bans any attempt to gain information about the girl from "her, her parents, any other person caring for her, or from her school", and another order relates to a ban on a named journalist. A spokesman for Mr Harris's office said the Official Solicitor would keep under review the question of press activity in relation to Ms Bell's daughter.