Newspaper owners fined £40,000 for publishing details on Operation Midland source

The Daily Mail’s owners have been fined £40,000 for printing a picture and information that could have led to the identification of a source at the heart of a child sex abuse inquiry.

In 2014, a man known as ‘Nick’ alleged that several senior figures, including former Prime Minister Ted Heath and retired field marshal Lord Edwin Bramall, were involved in a ‘VIP’ group that abused and murdered children in the 1980s.

‘Nick’s’ testimony, described by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) as “both credible and true”, kick-started the controversial £1.8 million Operation Midland that closed in March this year.

The media is banned from identifying anyone who has made an allegation of a sexual offence under Sexual Offences Amendment Act, but the Daily Mail published a story in September 2015 featuring a partially-pixelated photo of ‘Nick’ alongside some of his personal details.

Although ‘Nick’ confirmed no one had successfully identified him yet, the article could have enabled someone to do so.

At a hearing at Westminster Crown Court on May 11, Associated Newspapers admitted two offences under the Act and was fined £40,000.

The organisation was also made to pay ‘Nick’ £2,000 in compensation.

Deputy Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot ruled that the article was in the public interest but more care should have been taken to protect ‘Nick’s’ privacy.

She said: “The offence is serious and I am particularly concerned about the damage to public confidence that complainants’ identities will be protected.”

A spokesperson for Associated Newspapers added: “We believe emphatically in the rule of the law, and regret on this occasion we judged incorrectly where the line should be drawn.

“This prosecution follows the closure of Operation Midland, which was robustly criticised by the Daily Mail and MailOnline.

“It is an extraordinary irony that the only conviction to result from this sorry episode, which caused such pain to Lord Brittan and his widow, and to Lord Bramall and his late wife, is against a media organisation which reported it with the objectivity so lacking in police inquiries.”

A lawyer speaking on behalf of Associated Newspapers claimed the details had not been included to gratuitously identify ‘Nick’.

She claimed they were instead intended to enable the public to understand the context of his claims.

In March, former The Sun editor David Dinsmore was also charged under the Sexual Offences Amendment Act after sanctioning a story containing an obscured image of footballer Adam Johnson and his 15-year-old victim.

Although Operation Midland did not lead to any charges being brought, complaints were made over both its costs and how it was managed.

In particular, the MPS was criticised for not informing Lord Brittan that the rape claim against him had been dropped before his death last year.

Lord Brittan’s widow has since accepted a “full apology” from the force.