An inquest witness “expressed concern” after a weekly newspaper rewrote an article following a complaint that their reported testimony had not been accurate.

The witness had given evidence at an inquest into the death of headteacher Kevin McKellar, which was covered by the Hendon & Finchley Times.

The article reported the inquest had heard that the headteacher of Hendon School had died as a consequence of an act of self-harm “days after he was told he had lost his job”.

Andrew Macalpine, chairman of governors at Hendon School, subsequently complained to both the newspaper and the Independent Press Standards Organisation that the report had been inaccurate.

An amended article was later published on the newspaper’s website with Mr Macalpine’s agreement, but he complained to the regulator because he was dissatisfied that the original story was not removed immediately and no apology was given.

However IPSO later ruled that the Times had been obliged to publish the witness’s testimony accurately, but was not responsible for the accuracy of what was said in court.

The witness, a friend of Mr McKellar, “expressed concern” to the Times about the rewritten article’s publication because he felt the original piece had been entirely accurate.

Mr Macalpine had complained under Clause 1 of the Editors’ Code of Practice, stating there had been no reference to his losing his job during the inquest.

The complainant noted that the newspaper had reported that the inquest was told that shortly before Mr McKellar’s death, the school governors had offered him “two terms’ salary and a good reference” at a meeting.

He denied that Mr McKellar had been offered severance terms, and said that the confidential minutes of the meeting made no reference to any such offer.

In response, the Times said that the evidence presented at the inquest by a friend of Mr McKellar had strongly suggested that Mr McKellar had believed he had lost his job.

It provided a transcript of the evidence, in which the friend stated: “[Mr McKellar] phoned me immediately after the meeting with [his union representative] and was very upset.

“He told me that the upshot was that the school wanted him to accept two terms’ salary and they would provide a good reference.”

The witness further added that after the subsequent meeting with the school governors, Mr McKellar had telephoned him and said “they don’t want me at Hendon anymore”.

In addition, the newspaper said that after concluding that Mr McKellar had died as a consequence of an act of self-harm, the coroner added “he was dependent on his job. Anybody would have found this a colossal blow”.

Mr Maclapine’s complaint was not upheld, and the full adjudication can be read here.