The celebrity at the centre of the extra-marital threesome gagging row has won a stay of execution as Britain’s most senior appeal court temporarily extended their reporting injunction to keep their identities secret.
The Supreme Court confirmed it has received papers from the famous name who suffered defeat at the Court of Appeal on Monday.
An interim reporting ban – due to expire on Wednesday – was extended by 24 hours so the claimant can argue his case for another appeal at a hearing before Supreme Court justices on Thursday. A decision whether to grant, or refuse, permission to appeal will then be made.
It means the names will remain secret until at least Thursday.
Poll: 56 percent of people already know who celebrity is
On Monday morning, a live YouGov online poll indicated 56 per cent of people knew the identity of the celebrity involved.
Millions of Americans have been reading about the claims for two weeks, while readers in England and Wales have been kept in the dark.
Lord Justice Jackson, in the Appeal Court, said the amount of information that had emerged overseas and online had “substantially affected” the balance he had considered earlier this year – between the celebrities’ right to privacy and the media’s right to publish.
“Knowledge of the relevant matters is now so widespread that confidentiality has probably been lost,” said the judge.
“Much of the harm which the injunction was intended to prevent has already occurred.
Only 56%? Honestly that is probably about the full amount out there who even care.
I asked some people I know if they had heard about this, and much to my amazement they had no idea what I was talking about!
These are normal people who do not live online or run websites of course. So your average person is not that interested in this story. In the meantime…Celebrity Famous Dad threesome injunction drags on in the courts
Read the full story from the Telegraph here.
