The contempt of court by the Manchester Evening News came about after an "inexcusable breakdown in communication" between newspaper staff, according to its lawyers.

In an article published on June 22 in the newspaper and on its website, it was found to have breached an injunction designed to protect the whereabouts of Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, the youths locked up for killing toddler James Bulger eight years ago.

The article had stated the distance between their two secure units.

The paper was fined £30,000 and ordered to pay an estimated £123,000 costs.

Read what went wrong on the day of publication.

In a statement after the judgement was published, the paper said it was pleased the judge rejected as an "elaborate edifice" the Attorney General's main argument - that someone could have taken a long and complicated series of steps to find the boys' whereabouts based on the information that was published.

The statement said: "The case brought to light the fact that the exact whereabouts of the boys had been very easily ascertainable for some years on the website of a Government department.

"The Manchester Evening News naturally regrets that the judge accepted the Attorney General's secondary argument that the information given in the article provided added information which, taken with other local knowledge, was likely to lead to the identification of the then whereabouts of one or both of the boys."

Lawyers had earlier blamed a grave error of judgment, a subsequent failure of internal controls and an inexcusable breakdown in communication for the episode.

Was it likely to lead to identification of their location?
Read what the judge thought.

The Judge found that the editor, Paul Horrocks, "took positive steps to comply with the order" and "had made a conscientious effort to avoid the situation which occurred in his absence".

The company solicitors had already written a long and apologetic letter to the Attorney General following publication on June 22.

Read what the MEN said in its letter.

The Manchester Evening News also took the opportunity to reassert its support for the Judge's original order giving anonymity to the boys and repeated it had not deliberately breached it and would not knowingly do so.

It is deciding whether to appeal against the judgement.