LeicestershireLive
The live court reports were done mainly by Tom Mack, to ensure continuity for readers, and by Lee Garrett when Tom was off. The live blogs were accompanied by breakouts, usually published at lunchtime and teatime, written by the reporter in court, summarising the latest activity in the case. These were important for people who, for whatever reason, were unable to follow the blogs but wanted the latest, breaking news on the trial. We were also aware that other news organisations were following our live coverage, so needed to ensure we were first to publish leads on the case. The verdicts came in unexpectedly at around 4.15pm on a Friday, when the team was finishing for the day. Nonetheless, members Linda Steelyard, Asha Patel, Hannah Richardson, Corey Bedford and Lee Garrett jumped back into action to deliver five hours of live reporting, until around 9pm.Corey was immediately dispatched to the court to cover activity on the steps, resulting in our Facebook Live broadcast of statements by the police and by the victims' relatives.
Hannah, Asha and Lee, meanwhile, worked on all breaking lines, including the verdicts, newly-released videos, police interviews with the suspects, reaction and family statements. Linda worked on publishing post-conviction backgrounders and exclusive supplementary pieces which had been prepared in advance, and the live pieces coming in from the rest of the team. The coverage was summarised in a 'one-stop shop' live blog where readers could easily access all of our coverage.
Post-conviction backgrounders and exclusive supplementary pieces included a full transcript of the crucial 999 call made by the victims seconds before their death, which had only previously been heard in court, and a first person piece by Tom on what it had been like covering the trial, giving readers an exclusive look 'behind the scenes'. The live coverage continued on the day of sentencing, with Tom blogging from the courtroom and newsdesk publishing more post-sentencing pieces prepared in advance. They included the reason why the first trial was stopped (racism within the jury) and an exclusive on Bukhari's intention to appeal, given to Tom by her barrister after Tom had taken time to build up relationships during his weeks at court.
The result was an extensive and compelling package of coverage, unmatched by any other news organisation, which took readers right to the heart of one of the biggest murder trials of the year, with a level of detail no other publisher could match. It achieved around 1.3 million page views.