BBC media correspondent Torin Douglas: Issue is not straightforward (38")

There were complaints when The Times serialised a book about Bell, who was paid by the author Gitta Sereny, and when The Mirror and The Express paid Lucille McLauchlan and Deborah Parry for their stories.

Gitta Sereny: Accused press of hypocrisy

Ms Sereny accused the press, who attacked her over payments to Bell, of hypocrisy.

She said the press pursued Bell with "enormous offers".

Many of the newspapers carried what they said were interviews with Bell's partner, with The Sun claiming an exclusive on the story.

The actions of the press led to a sharp divide between the newspapers.

The Guardian led the condemnation of tabloid newspapers for what it called the "hounding of Mary Bell".

It called on the tabloids to call off the hunt, saying the case once again raised questions about the ethics of British journalism.

Freed nurse Lucille McLauchlan was signed up by the Daily Mirror, and colleague Deborah Parry sold her story to the Daily Express.

The nurses had been held in a Saudi prison for 17 months for their role in the murder of a colleague, Yvonne Gilford.

Galloway: Angry over nurses' payments

Labour MP George Galloway asked the Press Complaints Commission to intervene to stop a newspaper-bidding war.

The nurses had been convicted of murder, he said, and "criminals were not supposed to profit from their crimes".

This was the argument used by the same newspapers bidding for the nurses' story to justify their "witch hunt" of convicted killer Mary Bell, Mr Galloway said.

The MP said in his letter to the PCC: "It is greatly to the credit of Robin Cook and the British Foreign Office that King Fahd has commuted their sentences after just 18 months.

"Payments are an offence to the memory of a dead nurse

"But to see these women lionised in the press - I understand there is also a discussion about a film contract - is deeply distressing and must court criticism in Saudi Arabia of the King's leniency."

Mirror editor Piers Morgan said at the time of the nurses' release: "I don't believe the Saudis would release them if they believed they were guilty."