A mother who allowed her son to be interviewed by a regional daily has lost her complaint about the resulting article in which the boy spoke about his late father.

The woman agreed to the 15-year-old speaking to the Bristol Post after he promised to donate all the food he made during his cooking course to a local homeless person.

The Post said the boy’s pledge was inspired by his father, who he lived with until his father was made homeless.

He had then gone to live with his mother, but his father had remained homeless and later died.

Georgina Murray, acting on behalf of the boy’s mother, complained to the Independent Press Standards Organisation Clause 4 (Intrusion into grief or shock) and Clause 6 (Children) of the Editors’ Code of Practice.

She said the boy’s mother had consented to her son being interviewed by the newspaper about his college course and had not been informed that the interview would also concern his personal life or his late father.

Although a teacher and the college press officer had been present during the interview, they were not his custodial guardians or responsible adults with the authority to consent to an interview which concerned his welfare, and the Post should have considered the impact the article would have on the boy’s family.

The Post responded that it had not intended to cause the family any concern and had arranged the interview because of a press release issued by the college, which had included the comments from the boy about the death of his homeless father.

Before conducting the interview, the reporter had been told by the college press officer that permission for the interview had been given by the boy’s mother via his support worker.

In light of this and the information included in the press release, the Post had been satisfied that it had permission to ask the boy about the inspiration behind his actions and neither the teacher or press officer raised any concerns.

However, in light of the complaint, the article was removed from the Post’s website.

IPSO found that the connection made in the college press release between the boy’s course, his charity work and his father who had inspired it, and the consent provided by the boy’s mother to interview her son about his course was sufficient to allow the newspaper to cover the issues published in the article.

The complaint was not upheld, and the full adjudication can be read here.