Can't Access Protected member SetFocus

I have a function which checks if a value was entered into the text of a TWebEdit.  When nothing is entered, it returns an error message and sets focus to the TWebEdit.  The compiler returns a fatal error for the line StringEdit.SetFocus:

 [Fatal Error] Can't access protected member SetFocus

function RequireValue(StringEdit: TWebEdit; ErrorMessage: String): String;
var
  StringValue: String;
begin
  StringValue := Trim(StringEdit.Text);
  if StringValue <> '' then
    Result := ''
  else
    begin
      Result := ErrorMessage;
      StringEdit.SetFocus;
    end;
end;

I could not reproduce an error here calling WebEdit.SetFocus;


Is this with TMS WEB Core v1.3.0.0 ? If so, any more details / step by step information how this can be reproduced?