Guardian apologises to Sun for Leveson doorstepping claim

The Guardian has apologised to the Sun over a front page sketch article that accused the tabloid of "doorstepping" a member of the Leveson inquiry's legal team.

The sketch, by columnist Marina Hyde, claimed that a Sun reporter had visited Carine Patry Hoskins, who was dubbed "the woman on the left" on Twitter and elsewhere after appearing on the left of the video feed from the inquiry during Hugh Grant's evidence.

Hyde accused the Sun of "blowing a giant raspberry at Lord Justice Leveson’s inquiry or perhaps casually defecating on his lordship’s desk while doing a thumbs-up sign".

The Guardian's lawyer Gil Phillips confirmed in court that the newspaper had received a "strongly-worded" complaint from the Sun over the sketch, and acknowledged that the accusation in the sketch was "incorrect".

"My instructions are that the story about the Sun is incorrect and we will publishing an appropriate correction and apology, which will go in the rolling online corrections columns as soon as agreed and will be the lead correction in print tomorrow.

She added that the Guardian would "remove the offending two paragraphs from the article".

The Guardian has now published its correction, which reads: "In a piece sketching the Leveson inquiry we incorrectly stated that the Sun newspaper sent a reporter to the home of a junior counsel to the Inquiry.

"The Sun did not send a reporter to the barrister's home. We apologise for the error and any suggestion that there was an intention by the Sun to show a lack of respect to the inquiry or Lord Justice Leveson."

Leveson suggested to Phillips that, while he appreciated the apology and correction for the incorrect claim, "it would be better if hadn't been there in the first place".

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