A council has threatened a local news title with a High Court injunction after its editor published supposedly confidential documents that had been posted on the authority’s own website.

Inside Croydon has revealed the threat by Croydon London Borough Council after the site published details of an investigation into the council’s financial collapse in 2020.

Inside Croydon came into possession of two “highly confidential and exempt” documents relating to the investigation, known as the Penn Report, after they were published by the council on its website last week.

The documents, which have since been removed from the council’s site, revealed it had received legal advice recommending the publication of parts of the Penn Report and the implementation of recommendations made by its author, Local Government Association official Richard Penn.

Inside Croydon editor Steven Downes, pictured, ran a story about the findings on Monday, but on the same day received a communication from the council’s monitoring officers who “threatened to shut us down if we re-published related documents”.

In a piece about the threat published on Monday, Steven wrote: “As if that wasn’t laughable enough, today Stephen Lawrence-Orumwense, the council’s director of legal services, wrote to this website to plead with Inside Croydon not to publish some legal advice that we had obtained… from the council itself.”

In Mr Lawrence-Orumwense’s letter, which has been published by Inside Croydon, he said: “The council is conducting its own enquiries on how you were able to access these confidential reports.

“The council is also in the process of reporting the matter to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

“You will no doubt be aware of the highly sensitive and confidential nature of the information contained in the reports and the potential damage that disclosure and publication would cause to former employees and councillors unless due legal process is followed and which the council has committed to follow.

“The council has not given permission to anyone to share or publish the reports or any parts of it  Your publication of the reports or extracts from the reports will be in breach of the confidentiality and unlawful.”

Mr Lawrence-Orumwense went on to request Inside Croydon “refrain from publishing, sharing, or causing others to share the reports or any extracts from it”.

He added: “Also, that your [sic] permanently delete or destroy any electronic or hardcopy of the reports including any photographs or screenshots that are in your possession or control or to which you have access.

“Please confirm by 5pm today that you will be taking these actions. Failure to comply with this request could result in injunction proceedings against you.”

However Steven has declined Mr Lawrence-Orumwense’s request and the story remains online.

Speaking to HTFP, he said: “We will continue to publish documents that the council put into the public domain and sections of the Penn Report as we see fit in the better public interest.”

HTFP has also approached Croydon Council for a comment.