A regional daily has been rapped by the press watchdog for publishing a photograph of two children with a paedophile clown.

The Independent Press Standards Organisation has upheld a complaint against the Hull Daily Mail after a complaint from the mother of the children concerned.

The photo accompanied a court report on the case of children’s entertainer Robert Jamieson, also known as ‘Bobby Bubbles’, who was jailed for 10 historic child sex offences including raping a child.

The picture, in which the children’s faces were pixelated, had originally been taken in 2017 to advertise the opening of a local venue and the Mail argued parental consent had been given to publish the image.

But, following an investigation, IPSO found that the purposes for which consent had originally been provided did not cover the use of the photograph in the context of the court case.

Complaining under Clause 1 (Accuracy), Clause 2 (Privacy), Clause 6 (Children) and Clause 9 (Reporting of crime) of the Editors’ Code of Practice, the unnamed woman said her children had no connection to Jamieson, pictured, or his convictions.

Despite pixelation, she believed her children were still identifiable because the photograph had been taken in 2017 to advertise the opening of a local venue and had been widely circulated at the time.

The woman said that she had been contacted by many people who were familiar with the image and recognised her children, while they had also been identified by other children at school and extra-curricular clubs.

She added the image was taken in the context of a fun day and that she did not consent to its use in the context of a court report, while her children had been distressed and confused by the use of the photo to illustrate a report about a convicted paedophile.

The woman further claimed the photo, in conjunction with the online headline “Children’s entertainer ‘Bobby Bubbles’ behind bars for abusing young girl who thought ‘she was in love’ with him”, gave the impression that her daughter was the victim of Jamieson, and said that many people had contacted her to ask whether this was the case.

Denying a breach of Code, the Mail apologised for any distress caused to the woman and her children, noting it had cropped the image to remove the siblings when contacted by the mother directly, but said parental consent had been given to publish the image when it was for the purposes of advertising the local venue.

It added that the children’s pixelated faces meant were only identifiable to those who had known they had been photographed for the opening of the local venue, while the picture did not relate to an issue involving their welfare.

The Mail said any child who had been able to identify the children must also have read the full article, and in doing so would understand that the victim was now an adult and so could not be the girl pictured in the photograph.

IPSO did not consider that the purposes for which consent had been provided covered the use of the photograph in this context.

It said this was a highly sensitive subject, and regardless of the extent to which the children were identifiable in the image, it constituted an issue involving the children’s welfare.

The Committee considered that the article, when read as a whole, did not suggest that the children were victims of the man; it made clear that the victim was now an adult and had children of her own.

However, given the sensitive nature of the story and the presentation of the image in which the children were identifiable, IPSO found that the publication of the image had represented an unnecessary intrusion into their time at school.

The complaint was upheld, and the full adjudication can be read here.