Press regulator IPSO criticised a “lack of sympathy” from Reach local news website Cornwall Live which it ruled had published details that could have identified a sexual assault victim.
IPSO said an article published last year about a man jailed for sexual offences against children included several details that together could have identified the victims.
They included the defendant’s connection to a specific activity with which one of the victims was involved, the victims’ ages at the time of the offences, the number of victims and their genders, and the duration of the offences which occurred at the same location.
One of the victims in the case believed the details had led to him being identified, with people reaching out to him to say “they were sorry to hear what had happened”, according to the IPSO ruling.
Victims of sexual offences are automatically given lifelong anonymity both in UK law and under the Editors’ Code of Practice, of which Clause 11 (Victims of sexual assault) states: “The press must not identify or publish material likely to lead to the identification of a victim of sexual assault unless there is adequate justification and they are legally free to do so.”
Cornwall Live offered to remove the details from the story or take it down altogether, and publish an apology.
However it did not accept that the article could have identified the victim. One of its proposed apologies stated: “We received a complaint that this article contained details that could identify a victim of sexual assault. Whilst we did not accept this we amended the article and now sincerely apologise that the victim had cause to complain or was distressed by the publication.”
The complaint escalated to IPSO. Cornwall Live said it felt the defendant’s “connection to the specific activity could indicate he was anyone, such as a teacher, friend, or family member” and argued that “the article did not say the victim who was involved in the activity was the same person who had been sexually assaulted over the specific time period”.
The publisher said it had deliberately not included the victim’s identity, the location or exact date of the offences, or other information could which have connected them to the perpetrator. But it acknowledged the article had gone beyond what was contained in a police press release.
It said the article had been written by an experienced court reporter and that it is common for the subjects of such reporting to feel their identity is obvious.
The IPSO complaints committee “did not accept” the argument that the victim could not be identified and noted that Clause 11 does not state identification can only be to an “average reader” with no knowledge of those involved. The complainant also does not need to prove that people had actually identified them.
The IPSO ruling continued: “The committee considered that failure to adhere to the terms of Clause 11 was compounded by a lack of sympathy in the newspaper’s direct correspondence with the complainant. While the publication had offered to publish an apology, the Committee noted that it did not acknowledge the article was likely to have identified the victim.”
IPSO said the article also breached Clause 2 (privacy) of the Editors’ Code because the victim had a reasonable expectation of privacy due to the law and code protections on being identified.
Cornwall Live was ordered to publish an adjudication on the top 25% of the website homepage for 24 hours.
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