The Wanstead and Woodford Guardian was called out by the Press Complaints Commission for publishing quotes from an unverified e-mail. (Credit: Guardian)

The Press Complaints Commission ruled against the Wanstead and Woodford Guardian for a story falsely quoting a minor’s comments on a sex education teacher’s resignation.

The newspaper published a story about a teacher resigning after being outed as a porn star.  At the bottom of the story, the newspaper sought comment from students and parents.  Someone posing as a student sent an e-mail to the newspaper, and her comments were quoted in the newspaper’s follow-up article on the teacher’s resignation.

The follow-up story on the porn star teacher reported that the girl said that she would be “more likely to catch STIs” without that teacher’s sex education classes.

The newspaper didn’t follow-up to interview the girl or verify her age, assuming she was older than 16 and in the teacher’s classes.   However, the student’s father, Ravin Soobadoo, complained, noting that his daughter didn’t write the e-mail and that she is only 14.

“Given the nature of the quoted comments, the newspaper should have sought to make further enquiries before publication, and in particular established the age of the child concerned,” the PCC’s director, Stephen Abell is quoted as saying.

Read the adjudication on the Guardian’s website here.