AMM v HXW [2010] EWHC 2457 (QB), [2010] All ER (D) 48 (Oct)
Injunction—Privacy—Blackmail
AMM v HXW [2010] EWHC 2457 (QB), [2010] All ER (D) 48 (Oct)
Queen’s Bench Division, Tugendhat J, 7 Oct 2010
The court’s decision whether or not grant anonymity to a party or witness to proceedings cannot be an exercise of a discretion, but must be a matter of obligation.
Mark Warby QC and Victoria Jolliffe (instructed by Olswang) for the claimant.
Hugh Tomlinson QC (instructed by JMW Solicitors LLP) for the defendant.
The claimant applied for an injunction to restrain the publication of information which he claimed to be private. After proceedings had begun, and an interim injunction granted, a newspaper article was published titled “TV celebrity wins court order gagging his ex-wife”.
The article stated that “A married TV star has won a court gagging order to prevent details of his private life being published. The celebrity, who has a huge public profile, has obtained an injunction stopping his ex-wife writing about their relationship and claiming that they had a sexual affair after he remarried. Neither the married man nor his ex-wife can be identified,
