The Express has corrected an article claiming that 900 migrants carried out sex attacks in Frankfurt on New Year’s Eve.
The Express online article from 8 February was headlined: “‘They grabbed me everywhere’ More than 900 migrants carried out Germany NYE sex attacks.”
It went on to say that the story was based on reports in German newspaper Bild.
Bild published an apology on 15 February saying that a police investigation had failed to turn up any evidence of the attacks (which came a year after genuine attacks in Cologne). It has retracted the story and it has been reported that two alleged witnesses are under investigation for fabricating the incident.
The Express has amended the original article and given it the new headline: “Police deny German newspaper claim of Frankfurt NE sex attacks”.
The Express has also published a correction which says: “Our original article repeated the allegation that ‘900 drunk refugees’ had sexually harassed women who had attended a New Years’ Eve event in Frankfurt.
“The Bild article quoted a number of named sources who claimed to have either suffered during the attack or witnessed the events.
“After the German Police in Frankfurt denied that any such incident occurred, Bild apologised for their inaccurate report.
“Our version of the story was based upon Bild’s original report and therefore our article was also inaccurate.”
The change to the original article and correction follows a complaint by Miqdaad Versi of the Muslim Council to press regulator IPSO on 15 February. IPSO has yet to publish an adjudication on the matter.
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