Letter: Fetters on the press in the UK

Sir: There has been some discussion recently about the behaviour of the press towards private citizens. The following incident, which I experienced 12 years ago, suggests that some kind of protection of the private citizen is, perhaps, overdue.

In February 1981 my daughter and her boyfriend (both aged 26) were killed in a mountaineering accident in Scotland. My wife and I received the news on Saturday, and on the following Sunday we were subjected to repeated telephone calls from the local and the national press. On the Monday, reporters knocked on our front door, asking for photographs and information: they were answered by a friend while we cowered indoors. Finally, we decamped with another friend until the following day, leaving our house empty.

One must ask: is it possible to safeguard the privacy of an ordinary private citizen, let alone a member of the Royal Family, without introducing new legislation?

Yours faithfully,

B. T. M. WILLIS

Oxford

13 January