Matthew John Newman was given a suspended sentence on 16th June for posting content online which identified his children, after they were taken into care. The material has been removed from the internet.

The judge handing down the sentence, Mrs Justice Theis, sentenced the father to nine months in jail, suspended until April 2020.

Theis said Mr Newman had breached another judge’s orders by publishing content relating to private family court proceedings about the children.

Justice Theis handed down a similar sentence in March last year to a mother who had published content about her case online. Sara Root was sentenced to nine months in prison after publishing details about her family law case.

Ms Root was subsequently released from prison at the end of March after apologising to the judge for breaching reporting restrictions.

Gloucestershire County Council, the council currently in charge of Matthew’s children brought the case against Mr Newman. The council said the father was in contempt of court.

Mr Newman did not attend the hearing.