A regional daily newspaper has apologised to a man whose home was attacked after being wrongly identified as a child sex offender.

The 45-year-old man had his home sprayed with graffiti and his van set alight after the Eastern Daily Press reported that he had been convicted of a sexual offence against a 15-year-old girl.

In fact the man had been in court accused of other offences and the newspaper had confused his name with that of a defendant in a different case.

The EDP issued an ‘unreserved apology’ on page three of Thursday’s newspaper, two days after the original story headlined ‘Man groomed girl for sex’ was published on page 12.

However the individual concerned, who was acquitted of assault charges last week, has since given a television interview saying he had suffered damage to his property.

He told Anglia TV:  “I couldn’t have been named for a worse crime.  I have had people that know me targeting me because they think it was me.”

An Archant Norfolk spokesperson said:  “The EDP regrets an error made in an article in the newspaper entitled ‘Man groomed girl for sex’ and has apologised unreservedly for any distress caused to the gentleman incorrectly named, or to his family, as a result of this mistake.”