The Royal Gazette apologises for the online vitriol that was directed at Andrea Moniz-DeSouza, the honorary consul for Portugal, as a result of a Letter to the Editor that was published yesterday.

The letter included unverified accusations against Mrs Moniz-DeSouza that might have brought her character into question and which should have been queried to the extent that the letter might be amended or not published at all.

This oversight was compounded on the website by a person, or persons, making malicious attacks on the honorary consul and introducing unsubstantiated “facts” about her personal life into the public domain. Subsequently, the letter has been withdrawn from the website; a technical glitch meant that it appeared for far longer than it should have after an initial “deletion”, opening the door to the worst of the malicious comments.

Again, we apologise to Mrs Moniz-DeSouza for any offence caused because of this error in judgment.