A university has removed new guidance for journalists covering court cases involving transgender defendants after receiving “a number of complaints”.

The University of Central Lancashire has made the move just days after publishing the guidelines for the first time.

HTFP reported last week how UCLan researchers Dr Amy Binns and Sophie Arnold had produced the guidance after reviewing 138 reports of court cases involving 39 transgender defendants and finding they were “often confused and unclear”.

But both the guidance and the report it is based on have now been taken down by the Preston-based university from its website.

A UCLan spokesman told HTFP: “The university did receive a number of complaints regarding the news release linked to the study.

“In light of this we have taken down the article whilst we look into these concerns and review our editorial processes surrounding the approval of promotional activity of our research.”

The university told HTFP it was unable to reveal further details on the number or nature of the complaints “for confidentiality reasons”.

In their research, Amy and Sophie said journalists are being put in “impossible position” by judges for instance by instructing them to refer to rapists as “she.”

They concluded that fears over defendants being “misgendered” or “deadnamed”, the action of referring to transgender people by their pre-transition name, or courts not referring to defendants’ transitional status, meant some reports referred to defendants solely by their preferred gender.

However, Sophie argued that if a defendant’s previous name is not included in a court report, it “could prevent victims of any previous crimes or witnesses from coming forward”.

The guidance therefore encourages journalists to use both birth and post-transition names where available, particularly in the coverage of sex offences.

It also urges reporters to avoid using definitive words including “woman” without caveat, especially in headlines and introductions, and to report all quotes accurately even if this results in different pronouns being used by different speakers in the coverage of the hearing.

Seven trans rights groups were invited to take part in the research but did not respond.Trans Writes, a news and opinion website for transgender writers, criticised the guidance, arguing it was “brazenly transphobic”.

An editorial on the site reads: “[The guidance] argues that publications should not refer to trans women as women in headlines, for e.g ‘woman wins lottery”, because it could be viewed as agreeing with trans inclusive narratives.

“The piece argues that this is an opinion, not a fact, and so should not be included.

“Notably the piece fails to address that the idea that trans women aren’t women must therefore also be an opinion and not included – indeed, we must apply this to all people and refer to them exclusively in a gender neutral sense.”

Former regional journalist Amy, pictured, is reported as saying she regretted “any offence caused” by a lack of nuance in the press release accompanying the guidance.

After being asked about the guidance being taken down on Twitter, she wrote: “I’m very sorry about this. I hope it will be available again at some point.” She declined to comment further when approached by HTFP.