A murderer’s son complained to the press watchdog after a newspaper mentioned his father in a story about his own appearance in court.

The man went to the Independent Press Standards Organisation after Belfast’s Sunday Life reported he had been jailed for various offences.

The man, who was unnamed by IPSO in its report of the complaint, claimed his father’s past convictions were not genuinely relevant.

He also claimed Sunday Life’s assertion his “crime spree began” when he had entered a house and “stole [items] from a 13-year-old boy who was in his bedroom” was misleading because he was only convicted of handling stolen goods in relation to this specific incident.

Sunday Life said the prosecution had named the complainant as the man responsible for entering the house and stealing items “from a 13-year-old boy who was in his bedroom”, but accepted the charge of burglary in relation to this incident was dropped.

It added his father’s convictions and his identity as a relative had been widely reported on before and were also mentioned in the previous legal proceedings involving the complainant.

During IPSO’s investigation, the paper offered to publish a clarification on the point regarding the burglary charge, resolving the matter to the man’s satisfaction.

The full resolution statement can be read here.