Mr Liam Fay and the Irish Sun

The Press Ombudsman has decided that the Irish Sun took sufficient remedial action to resolve a complaint made by Mr Liam Fay about a breach of Principle 5 (Privacy) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines.

Mr Fay’s complaint was made on behalf of the parents of the late Mr Gerard Burnett, who was murdered on 21 August in a knife attack.  Mr Fay complained under Principle 1 of the Code of Practice that a statement in the report published on 23 August that the deceased had been “a serial thief” was incorrect.  He also complained that the coverage of this event had   breached the requirement contained in Principle 5 of the Code that the feelings of grieving families should be taken into account in publishing information in situations of personal grief or shock, and he complained about a number of negative online comments that were posted on the newspaper’s website following publication of the article.

The newspaper expressed its sympathy on the death of Mr Burnett and said that it had not been its intention to cause any distress. It also removed from its website both the article and   the comments about which Mr Fay complained.   In the circumstances, the Press Ombudsman found that the newspaper took sufficient remedial action to resolve the complaint under Principle 5 of the Code. This is particularly relevant in relation to the comments posted on the website which, although like much user-generated content are not subject to the normal editorial processes, were removed very promptly as soon as their offensive and insensitive nature was brought to the newspaper’s attention.

While the complainant accepted that the victim had a criminal record, he disputed the accuracy of the references to it in the newspaper. In the absence of authoritative information about the number of convictions the victim had received for burglary or similar offences involving theft, no decision can be made about this aspect of the complaint under Principle 1.

11 January 2013