Blackmailed star wins injunction over his identity

A television personality who asserts that he was the subject of a blackmail attempt over "intimate" photographs taken of him in private has won an injunction that will mean his identity will never be divulged.

Mr Justice Eady granted the injunction just one day after appeal judges decreed that another celebrity that is alleged to have had an affair with a colleague should remain anonymous to protect his children.

The man in the more recent case, known as a "household name", applied for the order to protect his human right to privacy in what the judge described as a "a straightforward and blatant case of blackmail".

The ruling is believed to be the first time a permanent gagging injunction has been used in a privacy case to conceal the sexual secret of a star.

Mr Justice Eady granted the gagging order even though there will be no trial after an out-of-court settlement with a woman, known only as BJM, and her partner (CJM), from publishing confidential information. The ruling stated that the woman, whose profession cannot be reported, "owed a duty of confidence" to the celebrity.

It is thought that, through her partner, the woman was negotiating a financial deal to sell intimate photographs and other information when she owed the claimant a duty of confidence, the court heard.