Monday, May 23, 2011

Ryan Giggs named as injunction sportsman who had affair with Imogen Thomas

World Top Stories News - Ryan Giggs named as injunction sportsman who had affair with Imogen Thomas , Top soccer player Ryan Giggs named in UK parliament as sportsman with injunction preventing details of affair with glamour model Imogen Thomas being published :

The British soccer player at the centre of a gagging order over his affair with glamour model Imogen Thomas was named today in the UK House of Commons as Manchester United star Ryan Giggs. Liberal Democrat MP John Hemmings used parliamentary privilege to name the player, saying 75,000 people had already outed him on Twitter.

Naming Giggs, he added that it would be 'impracticable' to imprison everyone on the website who had previously tweeted his identity.

The case has sparked much controversy in Britain with some arguing it is not in the public's interest to disclose personal details about the alleged affair. Others say with the name so easily found on social networking sites, any official injunction has become redundant.

During an extraordinary afternoon today in the British Parliament, Mr Hemming named the star just minutes after the English High Court refused to lift a ban on naming Giggs.

UK Commons Speaker John Bercow immediately leapt out of his seat and rebuked Mr Hemmings in an effort to try to protect the Manchester United player's identity.

After the event Mr Bercow said sternly: 'Let me just say to the honourable gentleman, I know he's already done it, but occasions such as this are occasions for raising the issues of principle involved, not seeking to flout for whatever purpose.'

Following the revelation thousands of people once again took to Twitter to spread word Giggs had finally been outed.

The Prime Minister's spokesman this afternoon refused to comment on individual cases, although David Cameron had earlier admitted to knowing who it was.

The Attorney General Dominic Grieve, who would be responsible for any prosecution for contempt, had earlier said during a Parliamentary debate on the injunction issue: 'It is our duty as parliamentarians to uphold the rule of law.'

The row provoked one of the biggest acts of civil disobedience in modern times and David Cameron branded the orders 'unsustainable' and 'unfair'.

Giggs had mounted a desperate campaign to keep his name secret, not only taking out an injunction but also threatening to sue Twitter users for leaking his name.

Earlier this afternoon UK judge Mr Justice Eady rejected a fresh application by News Group Newspapers to discharge the privacy injunction relating to CTB - the initials used to identify Ryan Giggs to the court - on the basis that to continue it would be 'futile', given recent widespread publicity about his identity.

The judge said: 'It has never been suggested, of course, that there is any legitimate public interest, in the traditional sense, in publishing this information.

'The court's duty remains to try and protect the claimant, and particularly his family, from intrusion and harassment so long as it can.'

Soon after the failed bid to have the injunction lifted, Attorney General Dominic Grieve announced that Mr Cameron would write to MP John Whittingdale to set up a joint committee to study the issue.
( Sourrce http://www.dailymail.co.uk )

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