As work around I have commented out the output of the course renderer > course section add cm control for section 0 of a multiple section page which removes anyone from viewing it or showing any of the files associated there but there shouldn't be files there anyway. This is in the file (moodle)\course\format\renderer.php, approximately line 730:
//echo $this->courserenderer->course_section_add_cm_control($course, 0, 0);
If anyone has a cleaner solution, it would be greatly appreciated.
thanks