BBC DOCUMENTARY "FAILS TO MEET PUBLIC INTEREST TEST"

12.07.20pm UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 8th Dec 2004

Commenting after last night's screening of a BBC documentary on the Hungerford massacre of 1987, David Rendel MP said:

"I was prepared to give the BBC the benefit of the doubt on this documentary. But having watched it last night, I was disappointed to see our worst fears confirmed.

"The key test is whether the programme served the public interest in a way that outweighed the damage that would be done to the victims and to everybody who was caught up in the events in Hungerford. But there was no useful new information or lessons to be learned from the tragedy 17 years ago.

"The benefit to the public comes nowhere near to outweighing the damage done by this documentary, which should never have been made."

ENDS