Sunday Mirror cleared over Brooks Newmark MP naked photos sting

IPSO has cleared the Sunday Mirror of any wrongdoing

Brooks Newmark resigned as a minister over an internet sex scandal at the end of September last year (Getty)

The press regulator IPSO has cleared the Sunday Mirror of any wrongdoing over an investigation which forced Conservative MP Brooks Newmark to quit as a Minister after sending explicit pictures to an undercover journalist.

IPSO found that the investigation, carried out by freelance journalist Alex Wickham and published last September, did not breach the Editors’ Code.

A fake Twitter account purporting to belong to Tory-supporting PR Sophie Wittams was used by Wickham to make contact with Newmark.

Wickham targeted the married MP, who sent a series of provocative photographs to his supposed female admirer, after uncovering evidence that Newmark was “exploiting his position for carnal gain”.

IPSO ruled that the journalist had “deployed subterfuge, but IPSO found that the investigation was initiated on sufficiently credible grounds and the use of subterfuge and misrepresentation and the level at which it was used at each stage of the investigation was justified in the public interest.”

Newmark made no complaint but the new regulator, which is seeking to establish its credibility, undertook its own investigation. Mr Newmark declined to co-operate with IPSO.

Matt Tee, Chief Executive of IPSO said: “The Editors’ Code prohibits subterfuge unless in the public interest and only then where there is no other practical means of obtaining the story.

“This case raised public concerns and it was important that IPSO make inquiries, whether or not there was a complaint. After a lengthy investigation we have found that the subterfuge used was justified at each stage of the investigation and publication was in the public interest.”