By Lou Thomas
The Treasury has apologised over an email accidentally sent to national newspaper journalists.
The email, sent by junior clerk Robbie Browse, asked recipients to try pulling the corner of their eyes as if they "were Chinese" to read a message that said "no sex causes bad eyes".
A Treasury spokesman said the department was taking the incident "extremely seriously" and "deeply regretted any offence that has been caused".
Browse also sent an apology email reading: "My job is to email out press notices and I regret that I have accidentally sent a personal email to you. Please accept my apologies again."
Daily Mirror associate editor Kevin Maguire, one of the journalists who received the email, said: "He alerted people to the original one, instead of them getting something and thinking ‘what’s this?’ and spiking it, as is often the case.
"It can occasionally be better to keep your head down and hope."
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