Footballer faces new fight over gagging order

Alleged affair: Imogen Thomas is at the centre of the super injunction row
12 April 2012

A footballer alleged to have had an affair with a reality TV star was facing a new legal challenge today to a gagging order protecting his identity as David Cameron said that the ban was "unsustainable".

Lawyers for the Sun said they would be going to the High Court to have the privacy injunction lifted as the name of a player continued to be circulated by tens of thousands of Twitter users.

The Prime Minister admitted he knew the identity of the player, who is alleged to have had a fling with the former Miss Wales and Big Brother contestant Imogen Thomas, and warned that it was unfair to continue to ban the media from publishing it.

Announcing the legal challenge, a Sun spokesman said the publication by a Scottish newspaper of the name of a player accused on Twitter and the deluge of internet disclosures meant the injunction was "unworkable".

The Scottish newspaper argued that it was not covered by the edicts of English courts.
The Sun spokesman added: "When the Prime Minister says on breakfast television that he knows the identity of the footballer, it is time for the courts to do the right thing and end a situation where readers of some newspapers but not others are allowed to know the worst kept secret in the country.

"We have asked our lawyers to make an application at the High Court and await the outcome with interest."

The injunction was granted last month after a judge ruled that the player, known in court documents as CTB, had been the victim of possible blackmail and was entitled to have his privacy protected under humans rights legislation.

Today, however, Mr Cameron told ITV1's Daybreak programme: "It is rather unsustainable, this situation, where newspapers can't print something that clearly everybody else is talking about."
Mr Cameron said "the law is the law and the judges must interpret what the law is", but Parliament now needed "to have a proper look at this."

He warned, however, that a "simple answer" to the problem was unlikely.

A player's name has now been revealed more than 30,000 times on Twitter by people including a well-known comedian, a self-styled "TV superstar" and an international pop singer.

The comedian told the Standard: "The whole thing is a farce. I wouldn't have given a s**t before but now he's pursuing this legal action he's got me interested. Everyone I know knows about it."

The international TV "superstar" tweeted a famous quote from former US President George Washington: "If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter."

Later, the celebrity began a Twitter discussion with another British TV star, adding: "This is about celebrities wanting their cake and eating it - and spineless judges allowing them do so."
India's leading newspaper today printed a footballer's picture and name in a report about the injunction.

A name was also chanted at football grounds over the weekend.

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