Third England star wins privacy order

A third England footballer has won an injunction banning the reporting of allegations about his private life.

The gagging order was granted on Saturday evening by the on-duty High Court judge, Mr Justice Kenneth Parker. Two other international players have been granted a similar order in recent weeks. None of the footballers can be named under the terms of the legal orders.

Concern has mounted about the use of injunctions to stop the reporting of potentially embarrassing revelations. The former England football team captain, John Terry, was awarded an injunction in January preventing reporting of information about his alleged affair with Vanessa Perroncel, the former partner of his England team-mate Wayne Bridge.

The order was later repealed and the judge said he believed Terry's "real concern" was the effect the publication of the story would have on his sponsorship deals rather than his privacy. Terry was later stripped of the captaincy by Fabio Capello, the England manager.

Earlier this month the Scottish golfer Colin Montgomerie successfully applied for an injunction which prevents the media from reporting details of his private life.

There was also controversy last year after an injunction granted to the Swiss multinational Trafigura appeared to restrict what MPs could say in Parliament regarding reports that the oil firm was dumping toxic waste off Ivory Coast.