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May 22, 2007

PCC drops Gail Sheridan privacy complaint

By Press Gazette

The Press Complaints Commission has not upheld a complaint from Tommy Sheridan’s wife Gail over a photograph of her published in the Scottish Sun.

The picture showed her in her back garden, where she said she expected privacy. It was published on 11 October 2006 under the headline “Gail’s pain”.

Although photographers had used a long lens, it was argued that even if they had not she would have been visible to passers-by without the lens.

The Scottish Sun argued that the photographer was on a public road – and did not leave his car – when he took the picture of the complainant at the side of her house, which was on the corner of two roads.

The commission said that although there was no public interest in the photograph being issued, it found no grounds to uphold the complaint under clause 3 (privacy).

It said: “Had she been hidden from view in an enclosed space, the Commission may well have come to a different decision. In circumstances where the complainant was outside and visible to passers by – and where the photograph was innocuous – the Commission found no grounds to uphold the complaint.”

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