The Independent has rejected claims of antisemitism after it used a picture of the late Lord Janner wearing a kippah to illustrate a story about criminal charges against him.

In piece about the use of the image, Will Gore, the newspaper’s deputy managing editor, wrote: “The idea that we deliberately, and motivated by antisemitism, sought out an image which would remind readers that Janner was Jewish is as absurd as it is offensive”.

Several readers had complained about the image, with two claiming its use had been prompted by Jew-hatred.

Mr Gore’s response, published on Monday on the Independent website, opened with the question “is his Jewishness relevant in reporting the story which came to dominate the last part of his life?” and argued that the fact that Lord Janner was pictured wearing a kippah was incidental, although not misleading.

He wrote: “The rules for journalists when it comes to discrimination are clear. We must avoid references to a person’s race, religion, gender, sexuality and so on unless the information is genuinely relevant. In this case, there are a number of points to consider.

“Janner’s public life was closely connected with his Jewish identity: to that extent, it is a relevant point in examining why he was not investigated more fully.

“Yet we did not refer to Janner’s involvement in Jewish advocacy groups in this particular article, so why use a picture of him wearing a kippah? It ought first to be said that our picture desk did not take particular notice of his headgear – it was not immediately apparent to the untrained eye that he was adjusting a skull cup rather than another type of hat.

“More important editorially was that the image was one we hadn’t used before. There is always an imperative to avoid constant repetition of the same picture of newsworthy people – simply to keep pages fresh.

“The idea that we deliberately, and motivated by antisemitism, sought out an image which would remind readers that Janner was Jewish is as absurd as it is offensive.”

The article that contained the image was published in January and related to charges of alleged child sex abuse against Lord Janner, who died in December.

The peer’s family have always strongly rejected the charges and the case against Lord Janner was dropped last month following his death.