The Privacy Injunction Fights Back

Duncan Lamont looks into HIJ, the latest naughty celebrity to stop the Sun from revealing titillating, if trivial, information about his private life. But the Court of Appeal has hinted at the new laws to come...

Shortly before Christmas the decision of Mr Justice Tugendhat NOT to grant an Order preventing the publication of the identity of a famous footballer who had earlier obtained a privacy injunction against the Sun (to stop allegations being published in a national newspaper) seemed to indicate a new approach on the part of the judiciary and was welcomed by the tabloids. Shaming by naming even if the tawdry details had to remain secret.

The claimant was known as HIJ and was refused leave to the Court of Appeal. But he did not give up, contrary to media expectation, and went to the Court of Appeal for leave and, unusually, the court heard his substantive application then and there. In a hard hitting judgment the Master of the Rolls (with whom the other