Another dish of humble pie is being served to The Guardian today. Last year, despite the Supreme Court’s clear ruling in ZXC v Bloomberg that suspects shouldn’t be named until charged, Byline Times breached Dan Wootton’s privacy by revealing his identity. Only a few mainstream media outlets did the same. The Guardian was one that foolishly chose to do so.

Wootton’s lawyers were quick to contact the paper, and though the story was taken offline the next morning, it was too late for print. Since Guido’s report that Wootton has been cleared, The Guardian looks even sillier. And they’ve been forced to accept it themselves now too…

Last night, The Guardian issued a grovelling apology to Wootton, along with coughing up an undisclosed sum to him. The next question is whether or not Byline Times will too. The six or seven figure bill might encourage them to. If they choose to double down, it’ll spell the end of the outlet. And an end to its particularly paranoid form of conspiracy theorising masquerading as gutter journalism…

Read The Guardian’s full apology below:

Corrections and clarifications

Dan Wootton

An article headlined “Police investigating allegations Dan Wootton solicited explicit images” was published on our website on 2 October 2023 (with a print version in a late edition the next day) and removed on 3 October 2023 following complaints from lawyers acting for Dan Wootton. We apologise to Mr Wootton for the article. Last week, the Metropolitan police and Police Scotland said that they had concluded their investigations and are taking no further action. Mr Wootton has restated that the police inquiries have exonerated him of any criminal wrongdoing. The Guardian has paid a contribution to Mr Wootton’s costs.