PCC upholds complaint against Staffordshire Newsletter over sex assault coverage

The Press Complaints Commission has upheld the second complaint in the past week in relation to the publication of material which had the potential to identify a child victim of sexual offences.

According to an adjudication by the PCC the Staffordshire Newsletter published an article on the prison sentencing of a man in relation to charges of sexual activity with a child, which had the potential to imply the connection between the accused and his victim.

The article contained references to the victim's gender, age and the period of the abuse which the complainant, the victim's grandfather, felt were details "very likely to have identified his grandchild to people in the local community", the PCC said.

The complainant was also concerned the newspaper had published a photograph of the perpetrator of the abuse.

According to the PCC the newspaper argued it was at liberty to publish the name and photograph of the convicted man.

"The victim had not been identified, in accordance with the reporting restrictions that were in place. The newspaper added that it had not been privy to information about the connection between the victim and the abuser (as the copy had been supplied by a reliable outside agency)."

The PCC agreed the newspaper was "absolutely entitled to publish the name and photograph of the convicted man", but the requirements of the Editors' Code of Practice in this area of reporting "are stringent".

"In this case, it was important first to recognise that the newspaper was fully entitled to identify the convicted man. In accordance with the principle of open justice, those convicted of serious criminal acts such as this should be identified to the wider public," the adjudication says.

"The code makes this specifically clear. Such identification can include the publication of a photograph of the convicted individual. There was no breach of the code raised by the photograph on this occasion.

"The commission also had to have regard, however, for the additional information contained in the report, which included references to the child and the abuse as well as comments made by prosecution counsel and the judge.

"While each of the details (which it would not be appropriate to repeat here) might have seemed relatively insignificant, it was clear to the commission that they had the potential to imply the connection between the accused and his victim."

The commission said overall it did not therefore agree the newspaper had taken "sufficient care" to avoid this implication.

"While it may not have known the full facts about the case, it was the newspaper's responsibility – not the court's or the police's or an outside agency's – to take every possible step to avoid identification. This it had failed to do and the result was a serious, albeit inadvertent, error."

No one from Staffordshire Newspapers was available for comment at the time of writing.

Last week the Press Complaints Commission announced it was to issue new guidance on the identification of victims of sexual assault due to the number of complaints upheld in this area in the past year.

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