Magazine 'violated Sir Paul's privacy'

HELLO! MAGAZINE has been strongly censured by the Press Complaints Commission for intruding into the grief of Sir Paul McCartney in the aftermath of the death of his wife, Linda.

Sir Paul complained to the PCC after photographs appeared in Hello! on 30 May, under the headline: "A month after losing wife Linda, Sir Paul McCartney - Getting by with a little help from his children."

The photographs showed Sir Paul walking in Paris with his children, lighting a candle inside Notre Dame cathedral and eating in a cafe.

Sir Paul told the PCC that he had no idea he had been followed by photographers and said the pictures were "highly intrusive photographs of us in our most private moments at this very difficult time in our lives".

Maggie Koumi, the editor of Hello!, conceded that the photograph taken inside the cathedral should not have been printed, but said it had been added by Hello!'s parent company in Spain. She also defended herself by saying the photographs were taken by paparazzi, not Hello staff photographers. She has already written to Sir Paul to apologise.

However, the PCC ruled that it was irrelevant that the photographs had been taken by an agency and that the cathedral photograph was added without her knowledge.