Mrs Hutch and the Evening Herald

The Press Ombudsman has decided that the Evening Herald made an offer of sufficient remedial action to resolve a complaint by Mrs Noeleen Hutch about the publication of a photograph of her son arriving at the inquest into his father’s death.

Mrs Hutch’s son, who was 16 at the time, was pictured in a photograph of a group of family and friends arriving at the coroner’s court for the inquest into his father’s death. His mother complained under Principle 9.2 of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Periodicals (Children) that the publication of the photograph had caused her son grave distress, and sought the publication of an apology from the newspaper. The newspaper, while it sympathised with the complainant on the distress caused by her loss, responded that it had not breached the Code of Practice and offered to take steps to ensure that her son’s picture would not be used again while he remained a minor.

Mrs Hutch’s son was not named either in the article or in the caption to the photograph, which was taken in a public place on the occasion of a public inquest. In these circumstances, the offer made by the newspaper was a reasonable offer and amounted to sufficient remedial action on its part to resolve the complaint.

11 May 2010

Mrs Hutch appealed the decision of the Press Ombudsman to the Press Council.