A woman who lost her fight to prevent a Sunday newspaper from revealing her former relationship with a notorious murderer has had her complaint against the title dismissed.

Adele Best, left, had unsuccessfully applied for an interim injunction against Sunday Life to stop it from revealing her broken engagement to Adrian Hayes, who is known as the “glued lips” killer.

After a judge threw out her case, she claimed she was harassed by Life’s head of news and a photographer from the paper outside Belfast’s High Court.

However the Independent Press Standards Organisation has rejected her claims against the title.

Life revealed that Ms Best, a committed Christian, had become engaged to Hayes, jailed for 17 years for the murder of 21-year-old Julie Tennant in August 2000, after the pair met when she visited a prison church in 2009.

In her complaint to IPSO, Ms Best claimed the newspaper had breached Clause 3 (Harassment) of the Editors’ Code of Practice when. following the High Court verdict, she was approached by a photographer outside who was taking pictures of her.

She told the photographer she didn’t authorise him to take them, but he responded that she was in a public place.

Ms Best added he refused to show her ID when she requested it or disclose that he worked for Sunday Life.

During the confrontation, Life’s head of news, who she recognised from court, approached and told her they were entitled to photograph her in a public place, to which she responded she “hoped he was happy that he was going to ruin her professional career and life by printing a very salacious story”.

Ms Best then claimed the head of news had repeated his position, adding “I’ll see you around (her hometown) Bangor” in an “intimidating, threatening and menacing” tone.

She had been unaware the head of news lived in the town and believed that the remark implied that he was going to “hunt” her and continue to publish stories about her.

Ms Best had then launched into an angry speech, saying “you are scum…you are just utter scum and I hope your conscience keeps you awake at night.”

Life responded that the photographer had stopped taking pictures of Ms Best after she “marched” towards him demanding he show some ID.

He told her he worked for Sunday Life and began searching for his ID, and the head of news had approached asking “what’s the problem?” after seeing the confrontation.

Life considered the comments made by the head of news about Bangor to have been a “mild rebuke” in response to her remarks, delivered “gently” and in a “tone of resignation”, and her claim it was a threat was a “complete distortion.”

The complaint was not upheld, and the full adjudication can be read here.