The Daily Mail and the Daily Sun have been fined £15,000 for contempt of court, the Guardian reported. They also must pay “prosecution legal fees.”
The two news outlets posted a picture of “Ryan Ward holding a gun.” Ward was at the time “on trial for murder,” the Guardian explained. While the pictures weren’t published in the newspapers’ print editions and “there was no evidence that they have been seen by the jury,” the two news outlets were found in contempt of court.
The Daily Mail explained that the photo was published accidentally. Journalism.co.uk reported that the contempt case is “a case believed to be the first of its kind given the online form of publication.”
The two news outlets “were found guilty of contempt in March.”
The Daily Mail added that as a result of the ruling, “all articles regarding crime and the courts, including photos and captions” must now be “checked by a lawyer before publication.”