Treacy and the Sunday World

The Press Ombudsman has decided not to uphold a complaint made on behalf of Ms Jean Treacy that two articles in the Sunday World were in breach of her privacy under Principle 5 of the Code of Practice.

The complainant was a witness in a murder trial during the course of which evidence was given about many details of her private life. The articles published in the Sunday World on 31 January and 28 February 2010 included general background information about the complainant’s childhood, school and family, as well as information about her relationship with her fiancé.

The publication of any item of personal information is not, in itself, evidence of a breach of the Code of Practice. In the very specific circumstances and context of the court case concerned, there was a legitimate journalistic interest in providing additional information about the complainant. For that reason, the issue is whether the information published about the complainant, other than information derived from the evidence given in the trial, was a breach of her privacy under Principle 5.

Outside the immediate context of the criminal trial, the complainant was, and remains, a private citizen. However, in the immediate context of this trial, the personal information published about her in this article was generally inconsequential and of a type that can reasonably be regarded as a legitimate subject for journalistic enquiry. In this respect it did not present a breach of Principle 5 of the Code of Practice.

For these reasons, the complaint is not upheld.

25 June 2010

Ms Treacy appealed the decision of the Press Ombudsman to the Press Council.