Two people who were arrested on suspicion of fraud threatened the Ross Gazette with an injunction to stop us printing the statement about their arrest, given by the police, in our paper last week.As is usual in the local media we had published the minimal facts provided to us by the police spokesman, however it was confirmed that the two people arrested had been involved in a controversial house raffle in 2010.The story then appeared on websites and in national newspapers which also revealed the pairs' names and the background to the story.The Ross Gazette was one of the first papers to publicise the raffle which was being organised to raise funds for two charities.The raffle organiser, Mel Yates, originally spoke to the Gazette because he wanted to let people know about the raffle of his £700,000 home and silver Mercedes car. He told the Gazette that he wanted to raise money for the Marie Curie charity which had nursed his wife through her final days and for the Injured Jockeys Fund. At the time Mr Yates told the Gazette:?"The raffle is not being held for personal gain."Tickets were sold through a website and cost £25 each. Mr Yates said that for every ticket sold a donation of £1 would be earmarked for the charities. At the time Mr Yates said that he had set a target of 35,000 tickets but if less tickets were sold the winner would walk away with the accumulated sum of cash – less the sum set aside for the charities.In November of that year he brought the competition to an early close and blamed his bank and the Charity Commission for 'decimating' ticket sales. The house and car were to be replaced with £11,000 in cash, and ticket holders were told they had to send a 25-word caption explaining why they ought to win. In January 2011 Mr Yates named Stefanie Gracie, of Málaga, in Spain, as the winner of the £11,000 cash prize. Mr Yates and raffle administrator, Penny Cook, were arrested by officers on August 14th on suspicion of fraud. A West Mercia Police spokesman confirmed they have been bailed to return at a later date.Last week the Ross Gazette received an email from a John Esplen of Red Bar Law. He wanted to know if we intended to 'print an article in tomorrow's publication regarding this matter....Subject to your answer we have been instructed by our clients to apply for an out of hours emergency injunction....'Our legal adviser said that they believed that they had no legal basis for a court to grant an injunction and therefore we printed the statement as released by the local police. Since then many other news sites and newspapers have carried versions of this story, all naming Mr Yates and Ms Cook.

In an update to this story, on page 3 of our November 7th 2012 edition, the Ross Gazette published the following:

House raffle - no further action

A man in his 70s and a woman in her 50s who were arrested on suspicion of fraud in August have been released from their bail conditions. A police spokesman confirmed that no further action will be taken. The arrests related to a raffle of a house in Gorsley in 2012.