Secrecy still name of game over Mr £17.9m

An injunction banning the media from naming Saturday's winner of the £17.9m National Lottery was overturned by the High Court yesterday, although newspapers said they would abide by an original undertakings to guarantee anonymity.

The order secured by Camelot, the lottery operator, on Tuesday evening came after feverish media attempts to track the winner. The Sun and Daily Mirror offered, then withdrew, rewards for information. Despite the injunction, several newspapers, includingthe Daily Telegraph, yesterday provided lengthy details about an Asian factory worker from Blackburn.

Colin Myler, editor of the Daily Mirror, which, with the Sun, Today and Express Newspapers, mounted the appeal, said he would not be naming the man. "As the judge quite rightly said, there was no legal basis for this injunction to be granted. There was sufficient public information in the public domain in Blackburn alone to lead people to this family, and the Daily Mirror went to court today to protect the right to publish."

The Sun, Daily Telegraph and Express Newspapers, publishers of the Daily Express and Star, also said they would not reveal the name.

Jack Straw, shadow Home Secretary, demanded an independent investigation into Camelot's behaviour. "The way Camelot have operated in laying a trail of clues to this family's door is utterly disgraceful and it's very clearly a breach of faith by them."

However, David Rigg, Camelot communications director, said later: "The winner believes he has identified the original source of the leak and that person is in no way connected to Camelot."

Although prevented from naming the new millionaire, many newspapers provided sufficient detail to identify him locally. The Daily Telegraph described him as "a Muslim in his forties from East Africa who moved to Britain in the 1970s. He has three children aged between 6 and 13."