Ban on naming mother, 59, upheld

A High Court judge rejected a request to lift the ban on identifying a 59-year-old woman who gave birth to twins on Christmas Sunday after being artificially impregnated at a clinic in Rome.

Mr Justice Ewbank, who made the twins wards of court, said: 'There is no public interest, merely curiosity in seeking to be able to name the parents of the children, and every reason to fear that if the injunction is lifted the children's welfare will be detrimentally affected.' He said the mother feared press harassment.

News Group Newspapers, publishers of the Sun and News of the World, and News (UK) Ltd, publishers of Today, were ordered to pay the family's legal costs.