Messrs Eversheds, Solicitors of London EC4, complained on behalf of Sir Elton John that the publication in the Daily Sport on 18 April 2001 of a photograph of a guest relaxing at his home in the South of France was an intrusion into his private life in breach of Clause 3 of the Code of Practice.

The complaint was upheld.

A previous complaint about the use of the same photograph in the newspaper was upheld by the Commission, which concluded that there was no public interest in its taking and publication. On this occasion, the editor gave a written undertaking that the photograph would never appear in the newspaper again and he explained that the paper had destroyed any copies in its possession.

The re-publication of the photograph by the newspaper was unacceptable and represented a serious breach of the Code. Nothing had changed between the Commission’s first adjudication and April 2001 to justify the printing of the picture, which should in any case have been tagged after the initial complaint to ensure that it was not printed again. The Commission does not expect to have to adjudicate twice on the same matter and trusted that the editor’s undertaking and belated destruction of his copies of the photograph will ensure that it is not published again.