Boy’s identity revealed in BBC programme on abuse

BBC Panorama accidentally revealed a young boy’s name in an episode investigating abuse in youth jails.

The investigative current affairs programme, which aired on Jan 11 2016 on BBC One, included secretly filmed footage that appeared to show the excessive use of force on young people at Medway Secure Training Centre (MSTC), run by G4S.

Ofcom, the broadcasting regulator, said the show breached a rule about “due care” involving people under the age of 18 in the case of “Billy”, whose real first name was disclosed.

Although referred to by Panorama using the pseudonym, the 14-year-old’s real name was audible on one occasion. His name was used in two other instances, although they were “almost inaudible”, Ofcom said.

Robert Padmore, an undercover freelance journalist who got a job at the centre in Rochester, Kent, filmed from October 2015 until December 2015 for the episode. It won a Bafta and led to a police investigation into the conduct of staff at MSTC.

Four members of G4S staff were dismissed after the programme aired, although a court case against them collapsed earlier this year.

The BBC said the lapses happened in post-production because the episode aired one week earlier than was originally intended, and that it was the “result of a genuine error which was only spotted as the programme was being transmitted”.

A BBC spokesman said: “Panorama took immediate steps to correct the programme on iplayer and there have been no negative consequences as a result.”