Adjudication No. 1431  (adjudicated July 2009)

The Australian Press Council has dismissed a complaint by Alistair Kerr against an article published in The Sydney Morning Herald's gossip column PS and on its website, smh.com.au, on February 21, 2009.

The article made several assertions about the financial affairs of Mr Kerr and his partner, who now calls himself Lord Leitrim. Lord Leitrim has previously claimed to be Lord Andrew Battenberg, and is an undischarged bankrupt in Australia. He was originally known as Andrew Lee. The couple live in a small Lincolnshire village.

The article alleged Mr Kerr, a British civil servant, and his partner had left behind a trail of debts when they quit Scotland. Mr Kerr said he had left Scotland debt free and requested that the SMH delete from its website the inference that both men had left unsettled debts. The newspaper complied, making it clear the problems in Scotland were those of Lord Leitrim under a previous name.

Mr Kerr complained that references in the article to Lord Leitrim, aka Lord Battenberg, as "Battie", represented homophobic vilification of his partner. He asserted "anyone familiar with Gangsta Rap (ie. anyone under 50, and many over that age) will know that 'Battie' is a pidgin term of abuse for a gay man who plays the passive sexual role". The Council accepts that the newspaper used the abbreviation as a word play on the title Battenberg, without a sexual connotation.

His complaint that the publication compromised his safety and security as a civil servant by displaying a photo of his home is also rejected. The street name in the photo was partly obscured and unreadable.

An article in the Daily Mail, London, a week earlier, covering many of the same issues had been published to a vastly wider local audience than the SMH commands in the UK.

The Press Council rejects his claims that the article invaded his privacy and was tantamount to stalking.

[ return to top ]

Documents with the icon require the Acrobat Reader, a Free Utility from Adobe. Click here for more information.