TV presenter Matthew Wright's murder comments 'offensive'

STV

TV presenter Matthew Wright's comments about the murder of a Western Isles teenager caused "considerable offence", a TV watchdog has ruled.

More than 2000 complaints were received by media regulator Ofcom after the Channel 5 show, The Wright Stuff, poked fun at the death of 16-year-old Liam Aitchison on Lewis.

The teenager's body was discovered in a derelict property in the Steinish area of Lewis in November, a week after he was reported missing.

Two men have been charged with his murder.

Wright was forced to apologise to the boy's parents after he put on a Scottish accent and told the audience "there's been another murder", mimicking popular detective show Taggart.

Ofcom launched an investigation into the incident and has ruled that the comments caused a "considerable" degree of offence to some viewers.

The watchdog report says the conversation "appeared to pay no regard to the unfortunate circumstances of this murder case concerning the killing of a 16-year-old well-known to many within the local community".

It continues: "The potential for offence was heightened because Matthew Wright made his joke while a photograph of the victim Liam Aitchison was being shown on-screen".

Ofcom says it considers that the issue is "resolved", after Wright apologised directly to Liam's parents, the programme was removed from its on-demand service and Channel 5 has taken steps to improve its compliance procedures.

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