Havant Borough Council has failed in an attempt to block The News from publishing the pictures of three town hall staff who were made redundant.

After the Portsmouth newspaper printed photographs of the three axed council directors, whose departures could lead to compensation costs of £1m, council managing director Gwen Andrews wrote to the Government’s information watchdog claiming the paper was in breach of the Data Protection Act.

But Information Commissioner Richard Thomas dismissed her accusation that The News had breached two data protection principles.

He ruled it had complied with the need to use information fairly and lawfully and to use that information only for a lawful purpose.

The paper has hailed the decision “a victory for press freedom”.

Mike Gilson, editor of The News, said: “There is an increasing tendency among public and private institutions to use all means to keep information out of the public domain.

“Names and faces are part of the public debate, they engage readers, viewers and listeners in the issues. Any attempt to remove them for spurious reasons lessens our democracy.”

“If the likes of Gwen Andrews had their way, newspapers like ours would be restricted to reporting that something happened to someone somewhere, and the what, who, where and why would be left to readers’ imagination.

“We believe the public has a right to a service that provides the facts, and shows the faces behind the names – even or especially when they are senior public employees who are being made redundant.”

He added that the verdict of the commissioner was “unsurprising” as the pictures were already in the public domain, but described the MD’s action as “symptomatic of a growing trend among senior figures, including many politicians, to suppress as much information as possible”.

The council officer had written to the paper saying: “Whilst I understand The News feels it is important to inform its readers of events in the public arena, it seemed on this occasion to forget that redundancy brings with it some very private issues and failed, in publishing these pictures, to respect this.”

Data protection expert Sara Sullivan said: “Journalists have exemption of parts of the [Data Protection] act using the defence that what they were writing about was in the public interest. A story about £1m of compensation for council cuts seemed to satisfy that defence.”

In a double-page article The News printed a life-size “cut-out-and-keep Gwen mask” of the council leader’s face.

Readers were told: “To commemorate Gwen Andrews’ farcical attempt to ban us from using pictures of public officials, we are giving you, our readers, the chance to turn yourselves into Havant’s managing director.

“However, be warned. We cannot protect you should the battle-hungry Ms Andrews decide to report you to the Information Commissioner for a breach of the Data Protection Act!”

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