Ms A Fox and the Evening Herald

The Press Ombudsman has decided that there is insufficient evidence to allow him to make a decision on a complaint by Ms Anna Fox that a statement in an article published in the Evening Herald on 10 March last breached Principle 1 (Truth and Accuracy) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines.

Ms Fox complained that the article breached the Code of Practice because, she said, it erroneously linked the murder of her late partner, who was named in the article, with the murder of two other individuals who were also named.

The newspaper stood over the article and said that any reference to the complainant’s late partner was both relevant and appropriately attributed to the reporter’s sources.

It is impossible to make a decision on the truth or accuracy of a statement which is supported on one side only by anonymous sources and which is denied by the other solely on the basis of assertions to the contrary. In these circumstances no decision can be made on the accuracy or otherwise of the statement complained about.

20 August 2012