An estate agency that created national headlines when its electronic window display inexplicably displayed pornographic images last Thursday evening say they have worked out what happened.

Senior staff at Whitegates in Mirfield near Huddersfield were horrified last week after being alerted about the images on their screen display, which was later shut down as staff investigated what had happened.

A spokesperson from the estate agency, which has 29 branches across the Midlands and North of England, said a passing member of the public had taken advantage of a power outage at the branch that evening.

It transpires that when this happens, the screen resets and for a short period display a Google search pages before returning to the property display software.

Because members of the public can use a virtual mouse to scroll through these properties, it was also used to Google the image.

Opportunistic individual

“Therefore, we believe an opportunistic individual who was passing searched for the image to leave on screen,” the spokesperson says.

“After spending the last few days looking at the systems in the back we have not found any hacking evidence or breaches in the back-office systems.

“Whilst far from acceptable, we are happy the rear was not compromised and entry was via the front.”

Whitegates says the digital display board will remain off until it could be sure a similar incident could not happen again.

London estate agency Faron Sutaria had similar problems when one of its branches’ window TVs was changed by a passing prankster with a universal remote to a pornographic channel.