TGE Paisley Daily Express has escaped censure from the Press Complaints Commission, following a complaint from a woman who felt her privacy had been invaded following the publication of her name and address.
It follows a report of court proceedings in October last year.
Says the PCC: “The article was a brief court report which stated that a man had appeared in Paisley Sheriff Court on petition charged with assaulting and threatening to kill the complainant. The article named the complainant. The coverage also reported the address of the defendant which, in addition to being where the alleged offence took place, was also the complainant’s home. The complainant said that the court hearing was held in private and that her personal details and the specific charges against the defendant were not stated aloud in court.”
It continued: “The newspaper said that the article was an accurate account of the court proceedings based on information from a reliable court source. While he was not present in court, the reporter had been given sight of the petition document by an officer of the court and had copied the details of the case onto his laptop. There was no court order in place preventing the publication of the details. Nonetheless, the newspaper said that it would not name the complainant in any future reporting of the case.”
After seeking advice from the Judicial Office for Scotland, the PCC chose not to uphold the complaint.
