The Daily Mirror published the photo with an article on
14th July that also named the street. Ms Rowling
complained that it gave sufficient information to identify the
exact location of her property. She was particularly concerned
because of threats made against her in the past.
She accused the Daily Mirror of acting in breach of a clause in
the Commission's Code of Practice that says:
“Everyone is entitled to respect for his or
her private and family life, home, health and correspondence,
including digital communications. Editors will be expected to
justify intrusions into any individual's private life without
consent.”
The Daily Mirror argued that the name of the road had previously
been published in another paper, and that the author could be
identified as the owner from the Land Registry or the electoral
register. The address was already in the public domain, it
said.
The Press Complaints Commission did not agree. It found that the
article had contained sufficient information to identify the
property, and that the Daily Mirror had not sufficiently shown that
the information was already in the public domain. The watchdog
acknowledged the security risks that famous individuals face if
their addresses are published.
The Daily Mirror was therefore in breach of the privacy clause
in the Code of Practice and it was forced to publish the
adjudication in full in yesterday's newspaper.
However, the Commission rejected other privacy complaints made
against the newspaper. These related to the publication of
information and pictures in respect of the author’s other two
properties.
In particular, Rowling alleged that her privacy had been
breached when the Daily Mirror named the suburb in which her
Edinburgh property is located, and the county in which her country
home is positioned.
The Commission rejected the complaint, reasoning that neither
set of details identified the property addresses, while Rowling’s
purchase of the country house had already been widely reported.
The watchdog also rejected a complaint that the Daily Mirror had
published details showing where security guards and CCTV cameras
were positioned in Rowling’s London and Edinburgh homes, and
revealing where Rowling and her family spent their weekends.
None of these details were essentially private, said the
Commission. Publication did not therefore breach the Code of
Practice.
