A Mail Online story identifying a “mystery man” spotted out with famous heiress Petra Ecclestone breached the Editor’s Code of Conduct by revealing irrelevant details of his family members’ criminal convictions.

Mail Online reported that the man had a “colourful past” in a story published on 3 November last year.

The website alleged the man’s father had been “jailed for fraud” and that his brother-in-law was an “international drug smuggler”. It also reported the names of the his mother and sister and the businesses they had run.