A judge has lifted a gagging order which stopped allegations about John Terry and a former team-mate's girlfriend being published
The England and Chelsea captain had sought a "super-injunction" preventing details of an alleged affair with Wayne Bridge's girlfriend appearing in a newspaper.
But his identity was revealed after Mr Justice Tugendhat ordered that the order, originally granted at a private hearing on January 22, should be lifted.
The News of the World had wanted to publish a story last Sunday about Terry and French model Vanessa Perroncel, who is believed to have separated from Bridge last year.
Perroncel's website shows a sequence of her modelling shots, including one straddling Ali G's neck in a men's magazine photo-shoot.
On court papers Terry was identified simply as "LNS" but the judgment made clear that the allegations were already known to a number of people
The judge said: "I accept that the information sought to be protected is not in the public domain in the sense that there is nothing left to be protected.
"But the evidence is that there has been wide circulation amongst those involved in the sport in question, including agents and others, and not just amongst those directly engaged in the sport."
Because the allegations had become widely available to so many people, it meant that an injunction was less necessary or proportionate than would otherwise be the case.
The News of the World welcomed the decision as "a long overdue breath of fresh air and common sense".
"Hopefully today's victory by the News of the World will lead to a fundamental reassessment of our draconian privacy laws," the paper's legal manager Tom Crone said.
"The British public's right to know has been the victim of this legal process. Hopefully that will now change."
The judge added it was likely that the core complaint was the protection of his business reputation, and not of Terry's private life, as in the evidence there was no mention of any personal distress
"Further, if - as I think likely - the real concern of the applicant in this case is the effect of publication upon the sponsorship business, then damages would be an adequate remedy if LNS succeeds at trial."
"It does not seem likely to me that the concern expressed on LNS's behalf for the private lives of the other person and the interested persons is altruistic," the judge said.
"This claim is essentially a business matter for LNS."
Terry was ordered to pay £20,000 towards legal costs for the publishers of the News of the World - and the paper has promised to reveal more allegations this weekend.
Both Terry and Bridge are expected to play in the World Cup finals this summer, amid claims of a rift in the team because of the allegations.
Terry, who is married to childhood sweetheart Toni Poole, the mother of his twins, was named Dad of the Year last year in a Daddies Sauce survey.
The judge also said newspapers must behave responsibly but added they have a right to report news, even if it is considered critical.
"Freedom to live as one chooses is one of the most valuable freedoms," he said.
"But so is the freedom to criticise - within the limits of the law - the conduct of other members of society as being socially harmful, or wrong."
Subject: Judge Lifts Gag Order On John Terry Affair Claims. 
Fri Jan 29, 2010 3:19 pm
