Press regulator IPSO has found Press Gazette breached accuracy rules with a report that included an allegation that a former councillor admitted a sexual offence without making clear he denied doing so.
Former North Northamptonshire councillor Matthew Binley complained about a sub-headline that said he “admitted to having sex with a 14-year-old when in his twenties”.
He told IPSO that at the council meeting where he allegedly made the admission, he had only acknowledged that police had investigated a historic allegation against him from 2009 and he had not said it was true.
The allegation was included in a Press Gazette story, published in August last year, about journalist Sarah Ward being given a harassment warning by Northamptonshire Police for sending multiple ‘right of reply’ emails to Binley.
Ward, who edits Substack-based local news outlet NN Journal, had published four articles relating to “historic allegations” against Binley, which he denies. He subsequently complained to police about harassment and an officer warned Ward she faced arrest if she contacted him again. She later received an apology from the Northamptonshire Police assistant chief constable.
The claim about his alleged admission in the Press Gazette story was based on Ward saying that several councillors had told her they would be willing to testify in court that Binley had said it during a council meeting.
Press Gazette only took extra steps to verify the claim, including by speaking to two local councillors directly to confirm the admission had been made, after publication and the receipt of the IPSO complaint.
At this stage Press Gazette was also sent an extract of minutes from a local Conservative Association meeting which said: “During this meeting councillor Matthew Binley admitted to the group that while a serving police officer he had sex with a 14 year old.”
IPSO said it was “not in a position to establish precisely what was said by the complainant during the council meeting, or the truth of any allegations against the complainant”.
It added that “the press is free to report allegations, and reporting an allegation that the complainant had ‘admitted’ to having sex with a teenager was not – in and of itself – a breach of the Code.
“However, while publications are free to report allegations, they must take care to ensure that they do so accurately. This may, in some circumstances, involve ensuring that an article is clear that allegations are disputed.”
The IPSO complaints committee said it was clear throughout the article that the claim Binley had sex with a 14-year-old when in his twenties was an allegation.
It said his position was made clear by the inclusion of a comment previously given to Ward which said: “The matter relates to historic allegations from 16 years ago. These allegations were fully investigated by the appropriate authorities at the time. Following a comprehensive investigation, the matter was concluded with no further action taken. There is no ongoing investigation. Therefore, I will not be commenting further on these historic closed allegations.”
Claim ‘not presented as an unproven allegation’
However the claim that Binley had admitted to the offence at a council meeting “was not presented as an unproven allegation”, IPSO said.
Press Gazette failed to include the fact that Binley “strongly denied” making such an admission, the regulator continued, and it did not put this specific allegation to Binley before publication.
Press Gazette did email Binley five days before publication to tell him it was reporting a story about Ward “from the angle of a journalist being accused of harassment for sending comment requests for each new article”.
However IPSO noted that this email did not include any reference to the allegation that he had admitted to a sexual offence.
In addition Binley said he did not receive the email as it was sent to his council address and he was no longer a councillor. Press Gazette told IPSO it did not receive an auto-reply to this effect and did not attempt further contact in the context of Binley’s police complaint about Ward’s ‘right of reply’ emails.
IPSO ruled there had been a breach of Clause 1 (accuracy) of the Editors’ Code of Practice as Press Gazette did not take “sufficient care to avoid publishing inaccurate, misleading or distorted information”.
There was a further breach of the Code, as Press Gazette did not offer to publish Binley’s response to the allegation after he complained.
IPSO said: “The nature of the allegation was serious: an admission to having had sex with a 14-year-old while in his twenties and a serving police officer. By not including the complainant’s rebuttal, the article gave the misleading impression that he accepted he had admitted to the offence during a council meeting – which was not the case.
“Therefore, the article included significantly misleading information and required a correction.”
Press Gazette had already removed the allegation from the story after the IPSO complaint was made.
IPSO said a correction should be published under the headline as the original claim was prominently made in the sub-headline.
The correction, which has now been published, states: “A previous version of this article reported that Matthew Binley ‘admitted to having sex with a 14-year-old when in his twenties’ during a council meeting. It did not make clear that Mr Binley disputes this claim: he says he made no such admission during the council meeting. This correction has been published following an upheld ruling by the Independent Press Standards Organisation.”
Other accuracy, privacy and harassment complaints not upheld
Other aspects of Binley’s complaint were not upheld.
He claimed Ward was inaccurate to say she had made contact with him amounting to “about four stories plus possibly three phone calls” but IPSO said this was clearly distinguished as her version of events in the article.
Binley also complained under Clause 2 (privacy) of the Editors’ Code, claiming the story intruded into his private life as he was no longer a councillor. However IPSO pointed to information that was already in the public domain, both about historic allegations made against him (due to a police appeal for anyone with new information to come forward in February 2025) and the fact he had complained to the police about Ward’s approaches.
He also complained under Clause 3 (harassment), claiming Press Gazette had effectively “named and shamed” him for reporting a journalist to police.
IPSO’s complaints committee “did not consider that the publication of a single article about [Binley] represented a pattern of conduct which could be reasonably described as harassment or intimidation”.
Read the full IPSO ruling here.
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