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IN our free supplement “Britain’s worst serial killers” on 17 April 2010 and online we stated that the publisher of the James Maybrick Diary had admitted forging the diary. We now accept that this is untrue and we are happy to make clear that the publisher has never admitted to forging it. We apologise to the publisher for our error. Link
ON June 1, we published details of and extracts from personal correspondence belonging to Ms Melanie Verwoerd, the partner of the late Gerry Ryan.
Ms Verwoerd had no knowledge that any material had been discarded or was to be published. We apologise to her for any upset caused as aresult.
IN Brian Reade’s column on June 3, he suggested that oil firm Exxon is regularly responsible for spillages in West Africa on a worse scale than the current Gulf disaster. This is not the case, and we are happy to set the record straight.
A PICTURE in the Serial Killers supplement captioned as Moors murder victim Lesley Ann Downey was, in fact, her friend Linda Clarke. (April 17, 2010).
IN our article “Tory Treasurer Michael Spencer Cashed in on 9/11 by poaching staff off rivals mourning 658 dead” of 10 February, we claimed that ICAP and its Chief Executive, Michael Spencer, exploited the 9/11 tragedy by poaching staff from Cantor Fitzgerald, a rival company who had brought proceedings against ICAP in 2002. We now accept that the article contained a number of material inaccuracies. ICAP was, in fact, broadly successful in defending the action (winning two out of the three claims brought against it) resulting in Cantor paying a substantial sum to ICAP in respect of their costs. We also accept that Mr Spencer did not breach a promise not to poach staff at Cantor and that it was Cantor who had rejected Mr Spencer’s offer of a mutual “no poach” deal which he made shortly after the 9/11 tragedy. It follows that our allegation that Mr Spencer had “cashed in on 9/11″ was wholly unfounded. We offer Mr Spencer and ICAP our sincere apologies for these errors and for any distress caused to him. We have agreed to make a substantial contribution to a charity of ICAP’s choice.
THE picture of Randy Jackson shows the judge from American Idol and not Randy Jackson the brother of Michael. (First edition only – corrected in later editions, page 15, February 2).
On Monday last, under the headline “Saoirse: Pupils weren’t Lovely to me”, we reported remarks attributed to actor Saoirse Ronan concerning her experience at school in which it was stated that pupils, teachers and staff at school gave her a hard time.
We identified the school wrongly as being Kilkenny College.
We acknowledge that, contrary to our report, Saoirse Ronan is not a pupil of Kilkenny College and has never enrolled as a pupil or attended classes there.
We accept that the remarks were not made concerning any teacher, staff-member or pupil at Kilkenny College and we apologise to them for associating them with this story and for any upset or embarrassment caused as a result.
We accept that Kilkenny College is an educational institution which guards the interests of all its pupils with care and we withdraw any suggestion to the contrary in our report.
We are happy to correct the position.
ON 19 June 2008 we reported that Britain’s Next Top Model finalist Jasmia Robinson’s unnamed boyfriend, was in custody for allegedly stabbing a suspected love rival.
We wish to make clear that her boyfriend David Obanobi was in fact the victim of the knife attack and not the perpetrator and was not in custody.
We apologise to Mr Obanobi for the distress and embarrassment caused.
On November 5, 2009 we said that Ricky Hatton had paid pounds 80,000 for a copy of a waxwork of himself which was on show at Louis Tussauds Waxworks in Blackpool. We have been informed, and accept, that Ricky Hatton has not bought a copy of his own waxwork and would never contemplate spending pounds 80,000 on one.
ON November 14 we published in good faith a picture of a cyclist being splashed by a lorry driver in connection with an article on page 23 headlined “80MPH winds hammer Britain as the worst storm of the year roars in.” We have since been informed the driver for R Swain and Sons Ltd of Rochester had been misled into posing for the photograph. The lorry was not being driven without consideration for the cyclist as might appear. We apologise to the company and the driver for the embarrassment caused.
ON 17 July 2008 in our front page article “Ron the Lash” we falsely reported that whilst recovering from an operation to his ankle Cristiano Ronaldo had “gone on a bender” at a Hollywood nightclub where he splashed out pounds 10,000 on champagne and vodka and threw his crutches to the ground and tried to dance on his uninjured foot.
We now accept that Cristiano did not “go on a bender”, did not drink any alcohol that evening, did not spend pounds 10,000 on alcohol, nor throw his crutches to the floor or try to dance.
We also accept that he did not act irresponsibly nor jeopardise his recovery and in fact made a full recovery from his injury in record time. We apologise to him for the embarrassment and offence caused and have agreed to pay him substantial damages and his legal costs. Link
In yesterday’s edition of the paper in the Pat Flanagan column under the heading ‘Just Put A Cork In It’ we falsely identified Mary Black as being a self-confessed alcoholic.
We accept that this allegation is absolutely untrue and has no basis or foundation in fact.
We unreservedly withdraw this allegation and apologise to Mary Black for the personal distress caused to her by this publication.
OUR picture accompanying the story "Mum dies as paramedic refuses to go into pub" was of pub manager Michelle Doherty and not the victim, Melissa Proctor-Blain. Our apologies to Melissa’s family, and to Michelle (Page 15, September 1).
ON 11 April, 2008, in a report of a meeting of the Donegal Irish Farmers’ Association, addressed by Garda Sgt Paul Wallace on the subject of farm security published, we wrongly stated that Garda Wallace had commended Mayo farmer Padraig Nally for the way in which he defended his property.
We accept that we mistook the context in which Garda Wallace said that the farmer "did everyone a service".
Both Garda Wallace and the IFA have assured us that his remark was in reference to the farmer having successfully appealed his conviction and thus clarified the law.
By contrast, he did say, and we reported, that farmers should not take the law into their own hands.
He did not and would not condone the killing of an intruder.
We apologise to Garda Wallace for the embarrassment our report caused him.
WE were wrong to report that Sam Griffiths was drunk when he was electrocuted running across railway tracks at Burgess Hill, West Sussex, in the early hours of New Year’s Day, or that he had drunk five cans of beer. The coroner at his inquest concluded that Sam and his friends were “merry as you might expect . . . but not the worse for wear from drink”. We apologise for any distress caused to his family and friends (Page 23, early editions only, March 26). Link
One U.K. television station and U.K. eight newspapers have published/aired apologies and paid damages after they falsely reported that a child’s birthday party had spun wildly out of control due to its promotion on Facebook. In reality, “only very minor damage was caused”during the party, it was never promoted on Facebook, no alcohol was served, and the birthday girl’s mother was there the entire time. From the Guardian:
David Price, of London law firm David Price Solicitors and Advocates, told Judge Charles Gray at the high court in London today that Amanda Hudson had been “extremely shocked and distressed” by the false picture that had been painted of her daughter Jodie’s birthday party in Marbella, Spain…
“The Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mirror, the Sun, the London Paper and the Daily Express have published prominent apologies in their respective newspapers and online,” Price told the high court.
“Times Online, Sky News and Metro Online have published apologies on their respective websites. In addition, Mrs Hudson will be receiving a substantial sum in damages and her legal costs will be paid,” he said.
The court heard that the coverage claimed her house had been either “trashed” or “destroyed” by drunk and out-of-control gatecrashers.
“The true position is that the house was not trashed, wrecked or destroyed. Only very minor damage was caused to one door and no property was stolen,” Price said.
“Similarly, no furniture was trashed or thrown into the swimming pool. Mrs Hudson did not permit alcohol to be served and was in attendance throughout the party as were a number of private security guards that she had employed as a reasonable precaution…
A sample of the apologies, which remind me of 2006′s Correction of the Year:
Our report (“400 Trash Eur4M Villa”, 30 March 2008) said that Amanda Hudson’s home on the Costa del Sol had been trashed by teenagers attending her daughter’s 16th birthday party, who had also stolen property.
We now accept that these allegations were untrue. We apologise to Amanda for the embarrassment caused.
OUR report (“Off their Facebook”, May 30, 2008) said that Amanda Hudson’s house on the Costa del Sol had been wrecked by drunken and out of control teenagers attending her daughter’s 16th birthday party, who had also stolen property. We also referred to an internet posting in which it was claimed that Amanda had punched Jodie because of what happened. We now accept that these allegations were untrue and we apologise to Amanda for the distress and embarrassment caused.
OUR report (“GBP 4M villa trashed by party-crashers”, 30 May 2008) said that Amanda Hudson’s home on the Costa del Sol had been trashed by teenagers attending her daughter’s 16th birthday party, who had also stolen property. We now accept that these allegations were untrue. We apologise to Amanda for the embarrassment caused.
AN article on 30 May 2008 ‘Trail of destruction at £4.4m villa after 400 crash Facebook party’ suggested that Amanda Hudson failed to exercise parental control over her daughter’s 16th birthday party and that her property was badly damaged by drunken teenagers. We accept that these allegations were untrue and we apologise to Amanda Hudson for any embarrassment caused.
Thanks, Dave!
DARTS champion Phil Taylor is known as “The Power”, not “The Force”. (Page 19, February 9). Link
Frankie Vaughan was not celebrating his 81st birthday yesterday. The singing legend died in September 1999 (Page 37, February 3).
SONNY Bono died in 1998, not 1929 (Page 2, January 5).
ON September 11, 2006 we published an article headed: Squalor. Inside spy Donaldson’s lonely death cottage finally revealed.
The article was illustrated by several photographs of the interior of the cottage.
We accept that the photographs were taken in circum stances that breached the right to privacy of the owners of the cottage. We apologise to the family for any distress caused as a result.
On Wednesday November 26 last we reported on the previous day’s sentences of Francisco Notorantonio and other individuals with reference to the manslaughter of Gerard Devlin on February 3, 2006.
One of the photographs used to illustrate the report was of a group of four men, captioned to indicate that they were at Laganside Courthouse as supporters of the Notorantonio family.
Three of the individuals who appear in the photograph (the first man on the left, third from left and first on right) have asked us to point out that they are not and never have been suppor ters of either the Notorantonio family or the Devlin family.
All three of the individuals were at the Laganside Court Complex in respect of a wholly separate matter and had no involvement in the sentencing of members of the Notorantonio family which had occurred that morning.
We are happy to clarify the position accordingly.
ON March 22 we published a story which we claimed to be an exclusive both in the newspaper and on our website stating that Roman Abramovich was drawing up a secret hit list of potential managers and had authorised the sounding out of Turkey boss Fatih Terim.
We now accept that Mr Abramovich had authorised no such approach and nor had he drawn up any secret hit list.
We apologise to Mr Abramovich for the upset and distress caused by the publication of this article.
ON 26 May last under the headline “2nd Bus Test for O’Brien” we published a report concerning John O’Brien, the husband of the late Meg Walsh, who had been acquitted of her murder, in which he was described as a wife-beater.
The report was illustrated by a photograph captioned to identify the subject as John O’Brien. In fact the person in the photograph was Ms Walsh’s brother James Walsh.
We apologise to Mr Walsh for our error in identifying him as John O’Brien and for associating him in the minds of those readers who do not know him with the actions of John O’Brien. We also apologise for any embarrassment or distress caused as a result.
WE over-estimated the number of Somalis living in Sheffield. There are closer to 5,000 than the 250,000 we said (Page 25, April 24). Link
IN our report on Thursday concerning an incident involving a Translink bus which collided with a bus shelter, we referred to a second incident involving an unmanned bus which mounted a pavement and struck a pedestrian.
We incorrectly stated that this second incident occurred last week.
In fact it happened in 2005. We are happy to correct the position.
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