England and Manchester United footballer Wayne Rooney has described the press as “disgusting” for covering his family holiday in Portugal.
Rooney (pictured: Reuters), 28, was on holiday with his wife Coleen, 28, and their two sons, Kai, four, and Klay, one this week, before starting training with England before the World Cup today.
He tweeted yesterday: “Disgusting that English press have flew out to Portugal to follow me while I'm with my children.”
Photographs of Rooney playing mini golf with Kai remain on the Mirror’s website, credited to Vantage News, but have been removed from the Mail Online, where they were credited to Solarpix.com.
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Rooney has previously posted pictures of his family on Twitter as well as a video of him playing football with his son, Kai, on Facebook.
Last month singer Paul Weller won a privacy action against Mail Online over pictures taken in the US which featured his children, then aged 16 and 10 months. The website was ordered to pay the children a total of £10,000 for breach of privacy.
The Press Complaints Commission Editors' Code of Practice says: "Editors must not use the fame, notoriety or position of a parent or guardian as sole justification for publishing details of a child’s private life."
But there is a public interest defence to Clause 6 (Children).
Under privacy, the PCC Editors' Code states:
Everyone is entitled to respect for his or her private and family life, home, health and correspondence, including digital communications.
Editors will be expected to justify intrusions into any individual's private life without consent. Account will be taken of the complainant's own public disclosures of information.
It is unacceptable to photograph individuals in private places without their consent.
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