Out-Law News 1 min. read

JK Rowling wins privacy complaint against Daily Mirror


Publishing a photograph of JK Rowling's London home was a breach of her privacy and risked her personal security, according to a ruling from the Press Complaints Commission in favour of the Harry Potter author.

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.

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