A woman complained to the press watchdog after a regional daily described her as a “loan shark” who made money “out of people’s misery.”

Rita Tahwa complained to the Independent Press Standards Organisation about a story run by Stoke daily The Sentinel, which reported she had been convicted of illegal money lending after getting involved in a community borrowing scheme known as a “round.”

The Sentinel reported that Ms Tahwa had made “500 loans to 100 victims” in which customers were required to sign an agreement which put assets against the loans, adding that one victim had been “threatened” with being publicly shamed if she could not repay her loan.

But, complaining under Clause 1 (Accuracy) of the Editors’ Code of Practice, Ms Tahwa said that the court did not find that she had made 500 loans to 100 victims, and in fact, very few borrowers were asked to put up assets in order to secure loans.

She also said that it was accepted by the court that none of the borrowers were subject to aggressive enforcement action and that she was not aware that her actions were illegal, with these factors being reflected in her sentence.

Ms Tahwa said it was therefore misleading to describe her as a “loan shark” or that she had made money “out of people’s misery”.

The Sentinel said that the story was based on a press release from the Illegal Money Lending Team, whom the publication contacted on receipt of the complaint, and remained satisfied that this was accurate.

But, during IPSO’s investigation, the newspaper agreed to change the headline of the online article to remove any reference to “loan shark” and making money “out of people’s misery”.

As a goodwill gesture, it also amended the story so that it read: “It was heard that, in total, she made around 500 loans to 100 members of the Zimbabwe UK community, with some running into thousands of pounds.”

The complainant said that this would resolve the matter to her satisfaction, and the full resolution statement can be read here.