Potential pitfalls of using newspaper library files for background research have been highlighted after a mix-up led to the wrong picture appearing in a tribute to a woman who had died.

The names involved were Kathryn Allen and Katie Allen, aged 25 and 24, who were both lifeguards.

Copies of the Evening Gazette in Middlesbrough were removed from sale after it was discovered that a photograph the paper thought was 25-year-old Kathryn Allen of Billingham, who died awaiting a kidney operation, instead pictured 24-year-old Katie Allen of East Cleveland.

The wrong picture appeared in an early edition of the Teesside newspaper and after the mistake was discovered the paper acted immediately to put it right, removing it from the main editions.

Some early editions were also removed from sale in East Cleveland and the paper amended its archives.

The mix-up occured after staff conducting research for a tribute to Kathryn found stories about both women in the newspaper’s archives and believed them to be the same person.

The newspaper published a prominent apology, in which editor Steve Dyson said: “This was a most unfortunate mistake which occurred because of a series of similarities between these two ladies in terms of name, age, and appearance.

“They had also both worked as lifeguards and the Gazette had carried stories on each of them before.

“This meant that when our library files were researched for background information for a tribute story, an honest mistake was made in using the wrong picture and some incorrect details because it was believed Katie and Kathryn Allen were the same person.

“These coincidences do not excuse what happened, and we will now be taking steps to ensure that a more detailed checking procedure is in place at the paper.”

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