10/12/2019
Yesterday, the Yorkshire Evening Post broke a story in which a young child, Jack Williment-Barr, was seen lying on a bed of coats at Leeds General Infirmary's A&E department. Today, social media has been flooded with a copy and pasted story of people claiming to know senior nurses in the hospital who say the photo is staged. The lady whose account the story originates from, named only as Margaret, said her account was hacked and she doesn't know anybody from Leeds - confirming the story is a fabrication. James Mitchinson, Johnston Press’ editorial director for Yorkshire, has since Tweeted the letters which he sent to Margaret in an attempt to explain to her how the information was verified. Chief Executive of Leeds Teaching Hospitals, Julian Hartley, has apologised to the young boy's mum as reported in an interview with LeedsLive. The fact of the matter is, the photo was not staged.
