The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) rejected a complaint lodged by Alexandra and Georgia Pryce – daughters of the ex-wife of former cabinet minister Chris Huhne – who claimed that the Daily Telegraph had breached the commission’s rules on privacy and harassment.
The image, published on the Daily Telegraph website on 20 March, showed Pryce in the grounds of East Sutton Park Prison where she was serving a custodial sentence for perverting the course of justice.
It was published on the day Pryce’s family raised concerns about photographers outside the prison – prompting the PCC to subsequently contact editors to pass on her daughters’ request that they refrain from taking pictures.
The newspaper denied that Pryce had a reasonable expectation of privacy or that there had been any harassment.
The PCC noted that the photo was captured from a public location near the prison, showing Pryce ‘in a place where she was visible to both other prisoners and members of the public’.
‘The photograph had been taken by an agency photographer from a public pathway and had been published on the [Daily Telegraph] website before the advisory notice had been circulated by the PCC,’ the commission added in its ruling on Friday.
