Today we launch the first of a fortnightly column by media lawyers from Foot Anstey.

---

The hush of privacy has descended further with an adulterer winning a temporary injunction banning the betrayed husband from naming him in the media.

Mr Justice Eady imposed the order after the adulterer, a well-known figure in the sports world, faced being named and shamed by the husband who wanted revenge by selling the story and publishing details on the internet.

The judge decided that even a well-known figure had a right to privacy under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and despite his infidelity, had a right to protect his wife and children.

As English law still has no an enforceable right to privacy, the Judge used the law of confidence to protect the adulterer’s entitlement to privacy under Article 8.

Mr Justice Eady obviously recognised he was entering unknown territory. He conceded that it is a “striking proposition” that a spouse whose partner has committed adultery owes a duty of confidence to the third party adulterer to keep quiet about it.

But he added: “There is a powerful argument that the conduct of an intimate or sexual relationship is a matter in respect of which there is a ‘reasonable expectation of privacy’.

The adulterer claimed he was unaware his lover was married and that even if he had brought problems upon his family himself, the Judge decided there was no reason why his wife – said to be suffering severe anxiety – and children had to endure media intrusion.

His barrister, Mark Warby QC, argued their Article 8 privacy rights should also be considered.

There has already been a good deal of speculation regarding the consequences of this decision. Is it just the beginning of a glut of privacy cases? Is it the end of kiss and tell?

It seems it’s too early to tell – though we will have a clearer idea of the way the wind is blowing after the trial on February 12 next year.

---

To contact Tony Jaffa or Nigel Hanson telephone 0800 0731 411 or e-mail [email protected] or [email protected]

---