The News Shopper has been gagged from printing details about a health scare which has seen 509 patients recalled for HIV tests.

The hospital concerned obtained a court order banning the London weekly from publishing anything that could identify a health worker whose illness sparked the scare.

The court order is so wide-ranging that News Shopper editor Andrew Parkes (below) even contacted the judge personally in a bid to reverse the decision.

Gagged: Andy Parkes

The injuction left Andrew with a huge dilemma, which he described as "perhaps the biggest of my professional life".

Publishing the article in just one edition, and thus identifying the area affected by the story, would have contravened the judge's court order.

Andrew said: "A draconian court order sought to keep this newspaper, and every other media organisation, from printing a vitally-important story which every reader had the right to know.

"The choice was to ignore the story altogether or run it in every one of our 12 News Shoppers."

Deciding that the story was too important to ignore, Andrew ran a "legalled" version on the front page of each of the 12 editions - covering his entire circulation area from south east London to north Kent - which complied with the terms of the order.

Andrew said: "To remain silent would run the risk of destroying all News Shopper has come to stand for.

"Instead, the story had to appear on every front page, even the 11 areas not affected by this massive HIV scare.

"I realised this could lead to some readers being unnecessarily concerned, but, ultimately, I did not feel there was any choice."

The injunction prevents the newspaper giving any indication which hospital might be involved, who might be affected or which health worker's illness is at the centre of the scandal.

Andrew said: "Whilst recognising the rights of individuals, this newspaper will continue to do everything in its power to fight decisions such as this.

"We have always sought to deliver the truth and will do everything in our power to ensure this continues.

"The fact that hundreds of people within the News Shopper's area are being forced to take HIV tests should not go unreported.

"To seek to suppress such information is fundamentally wrong."

The paper is appealing to readers to write to local MPs, all of whom have been sent a copy of the paper.