Pigs can fly: an apology from West Midlands Police

It's always deeply unfortunate when one hears of an individual being accused of a crime they did not commit. Imagine, however, the true horror of your image being printed in your town's largest newspaper to alongside a story entitled 'Masked Robbers Preyed on Women'.

That's exactly what happeend in Birmingham when the West Midlands Police force sent the image of an innocent man to the Birmingham Post to accompany a story about the conviction of a man for robbing and assaulting prostitutes.

In a short statement, West Midlands Police said:

"We apologise sincerely to the person shown in the photo for any embarrassment or distress caused to him or his family. West Midlands Police will be writing directly to the person to reiterate this apology"

An apology is the very least they could do.

Comments

[Slacker]

Someone should lose their job over this. It'll never happen, of course.

[rc]

I do hope that the person concerned seeks and obtains a legal remedy for this vile slander.

[alastair]

@rc:
It's libel, not slander, and actually I *don't* hope for a "legal remedy", since it will come from money that we have all paid in taxes.

What I hope is that there is an adequate apology, printed in the same newspaper in a position at least as prominent as the original article.