US magazine names British star in media gag over 'sex with prostitute'
5 May 2016
A
famous British actor who won an injunction to prevent claims that he
slept with a prostitute from being published has been named in the US.
The
married star allegedly paid for sex with Helen Wood, the former escort
who once claimed she had an affair with England footballer Wayne Rooney
while his wife Coleen was pregnant with their first child.
The
Sun newspaper said the court injunction was obtained five years ago to
prevent it revealing the actor’s identity in the UK, but a US magazine
has now published his name with details of his alleged infidelity. The
actor’s name was also circulated on social media.
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It
comes after an American publication named another celebrity last month,
who is alleged to have taken part in extra-marital activities despite
the English media being banned from reporting his identity.
Supreme
Court judges are still considering whether to lift the injunction in
that case, in which the famous man is referred to only as PJS.
Mark
Stephens, media lawyer at legal firm Howard Kennedy, said he expected
to see more foreign publications naming stars who were subject to
privacy injunctions in Britain.
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He
said: “Global stars seem to have fallen for the soft sell of claimant
lawyers promising the earth but delivering a target to the backs of
celebrities.
“We
can now expect to see a weekly stream of publications in foreign
publications, each and every one breaching English privacy orders. ”
Miss
Wood, who won Big Brother in 2014, told the Sun that the actor paid
£195 through an escort agency to have sex with her in March 2010. She
also claimed she used a sex toy on him.
View photos
Last
month, the president of the Supreme Court said individuals could still
challenge the “more intense” dissemination of information that is
already in the public arena.
Lord
Neuberger said: “The fact that information about an individual is in
the public arena does not necessarily prevent that individual from
challenging its dissemination more widely, more intensely or more
permanently.
“And
in the traditional world of hard copy, most information would be
difficult to access a year later. Yesterday’s newspaper would be today’s
fish and chip wrapping, and tomorrow’s waste material.
“However,
in the brave new world of webpages, yesterday’s news will be accessible
not merely next year but next century, and it is relatively easily
findable through a search engine.”
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