RIBBLE Valley MP Nigel Evans has backed a call by a House of Commons committee that people accused of crimes should not be identified in the media until they are charged.

Mr Evans was himself thrust into the media spotlight after being quizzed by police over allegations of sexual offences.

He was later cleared by a crown court jury of all charges.

And the Conservative has backed a call by the House of Commons home affairs select committee that all crime suspects should have the same rights to anonymity as that which protects victims of alleged sex offences.

Mr Evans said: “Anonymity is now something that even the chief of the Metropolitan police has said should come about and I think that the evidence is overwhelming that the torture and trauma that people who are accused of these crimes go through is disproportionate.

“It should be on the charge that the name comes out.

“It stops the debacle that people such as Paul Gambaccini faced that lasted 12 months and caused £200,000 in lost earnings.

“It is just bringing back some form of equality in the judicial process.”

Blackburn MP Jack Straw has also backed the proposals.

He said: “I think this suggestion has a lot of merit because a lot of people are arrested because the police need to talk to them but there is no evidence of them committing a crime.

“You can get some real injustices under the current arrangement.”

But other East Lancashire MPs had differing views.

Rossendale and Darwen MP Jake Berry said: “I think it is something that Parliament will have to look at but in relation to some of the recent allegations against Jimmy Saville, it wasn’t until it appeared in the media that some victims actually came forward.

Pendle MP Andrew Stephenson said: “I think they have a point and we have had some people’s lives destroyed after being named in the press.

“But I am a strong supporter of a free press and I do not like any restrictions on it.”