Source: Daily_Mail
Ryan Giggs named in Commons over 'affair' with Imogen Thomas
ShareManchester United's preparations for the Champions League final will be hampered this week after Ryan Giggs was named as the footballer at the centre of the gagging order over his affair with Big Brother star Imogen Thomas.[LNB]As United count down to their meeting with Barcelona at Wembley, Giggs was named in the House of Commons by Liberal Democrat MPJohn Hemmings.[LNB]He used parliamentary privilege to name the star saying 75,000 people had already outed him on Twitter.[LNB]Naming Giggs he added that it would be 'impracticable' to prison everyone on the website who had previously tweeted his identity.[LNB]Speaker John Bercow immediately leapt out of his seat and rebuked Mr Hemmings in an effort to try and protect the Manchester United player's identity.[LNB] Outed: Ryan Giggs, yesterday, celebrating with his two children Zach and Libby while Imogen Thomas was spotted leaving London today[LNB]During an extraordinary afternoon in Parliament, Mr Hemming named the star just minutes after the High Court refused to lift a ban on naming Giggs.[LNB]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.'[LNB]Following the revelation thousands of people once again took to Twitter to spread word Giggs had finally been outed.[LNB]The Prime Minister's spokesman this afternoon refused to comment on individual cases, although David Cameron had earlier admitted to knowing it was Giggs.[LNB]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.'[LNB]Therow provoked one of the biggest acts of civil disobedience in modern times and David Cameron branded the orders 'unsustainable' and 'unfair'.[LNB]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.[LNB]Earlier this afternoon MrJustice 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.[LNB] The Prime Minister made the comments about the gagging orders when he appeared on ITV's Daybreak show today. Here he is pictured with Christine Bleakley and Adrian Chiles[LNB]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.[LNB]'The court's duty remains to try and protect the claimant, and particularly his family, from intrusion and harassment so long as it can.'[LNB]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.[LNB]This morning speaking to ITV1's Daybreak, the Prime Minister indicated that he knew the identity of the footballer 'like everybody else' but stressed that there was no 'simple answer' and ministers needed to take 'some time out'.[LNB]Giggs's face was yesterday published by a Scots newspaper, the Glasgow-based Sunday Herald. Today, India's leading newspaper the Times Of India printed a picture of the footballer and used his name three times in a report about the injunction.[LNB]TheTimes of India also identified the British TV presenter and journalist who is facing a possible jail sentence after he allegedly breached a separate injunction.[LNB] Within hours of the player launching his legal challenge thousands of tweets about him and the relationship appeared on the site. Here are some of them with the player's name blacked out[LNB] The number of people tweeting the footballer's name since Friday reached 56,000 by mid-afternoon[LNB]The journalist is said to have named asecond footballer trying to stop reports of an alleged affair. He was also named by the Indian paper.[LNB]The story was printed on the back page of the newspaper - the biggest-selling English language paper in India.[LNB]No reference was made to the story on its website, which is available to internet users in England and Wales.[LNB]The Times of India claims to be the highest-circulating English language newspaper in the world, selling 3.4million copies a day. It is read by around 7million Indians every day.[LNB]The paper was founded in 1838 and itsfirst editor was an Englishman, Robert Knight, who 'fought for a press free of government restraint or intimidation'. [LNB] Glory, glory, Man United! Fergie's men party on the pitch with Premier League trophyMan United 4 Blackpool 2: Ruthless to the finish as Tangerine dream diesAll the latest Manchester United news, features and opinion[LNB]Football fans in the UK yesterday mockingly chanted the footballer's name at a match with a worldwide audience. And he was mentioned more than 30,000 times on Twitter, helping to ensure that anyone still unaware of his identity can discoverit with a few clicks of a mouse.[LNB]Mr Cameron said: 'It is rather unsustainable, this situation, where newspapers can't print something that clearly everybody else is talking about, but there's a difficulty here because the law is the law and the judges must interpret what the law is.[LNB]'What I've said in the past is, the danger is that judgments are effectively writing a new law which is whatParliament is meant to do.[LNB]'So I think the Government, Parliament has got to take some time out, have a proper look at this, have a think about what we can do, but I'm not sure there is going to bea simple answer.'[LNB] Enlarge Graphic showing online searches for the footballer from across the world. Note the dramatic rise after news broke on Friday that he was taking action against Twitter[LNB] [LNB] This graph shows online searches from within the UK since the beginning of May. Again, from a fairly constant level it suddenly shoots up on Friday[LNB] [LNB] Enlarge Again measuring from the start of May, worldwide interest in the player surges towards the end of the month[LNB] [LNB] Mr Cameron suggested that one route might be to strengthen the Press Complaints Commission.[LNB]'It's not fair on the newspapers if all the social media can report this and the newspapers can't, so the law and the practice has got to catch up with how people consume media today,' he said.[LNB]'But I don't think there is an easy answer on this. Perhaps the way through is to look again at the Press Complaints Commission, the work it does. If people can have more confidence in that then we could have less of this current approach.[LNB]'But we are going to have to take some time out to really have a think about this.'[LNB]Labour leader Ed Miliband said he agreed that the privacy law situation 'does need to be looked at'.[LNB]'Wehave got a situation where we have these rulings on privacy, clearly many people are being able to break them through social networks, through Twitter and so on, and I don't think that's a good position to be in, when the law is clearly not working,' he told Sky News.[LNB] [LNB] [LNB] Twitter messages brought out by a TV star, a pop singer, an author and a comedian with references as to the identity of the player blacked out[LNB] Spotlight: Former Big Brother star Imogen, left, shopping with a friend over the weekend [LNB] 'So I do think that Parliament needs to look at this. Parliament really needs to look at the balance between respecting the privacy of the individual and the freedom of the Press to report things which are in the public interest, and it's right that Parliament needs to look at it.'[LNB]The dramatic backlash took its cue from MPs and peers who have spoken against injunctions. It left judges facing an overwhelming task if they try to maintain the gagging order while preserving any shreds of respect for the courts and their privacy laws.[LNB]One MP suggested thatonly a minority of people have not now heard a name for the Premier League footballer, who was granted a privacy injunction in April which forbade publication of his name or allegations that he had a six-month affair with former Big Brother contestant Imogen Thomas.[LNB]Internetspeculation on his identity began within a week, was fuelled by an MP who blurted out his name during the recording of a television programme,and was helped along by Miss Thomas, who has complained frequently thatshe can be named and her reputation has been traduced.[LNB] TheGlasgow-based Sunday Herald yesterday published a picture of the player on its front page, clearly identifiable despite a bar placed over his eyes.[LNB]It named him inside the paper and added that his action against Twitter 'raises questions over the future of free speech on social media sites'.[LNB]The paper has a circulation of just over 30,000, which means it is likely to be read by between 75,000 and 100,000 people.[LNB]Theeffect of English privacy injunctions in Scotland has been a legal greyarea. Scotland has a separate legal system and in the landmark Spycatcher case in 1986, Scottish newspapers ignored English judges and published material from the banned book by a former MI5 agent.[LNB] But Scottish newspapers circulate in England and their editors have been careful until now to stick by the letter of privacy injunctions.[LNB]PaulMcBride QC, the Sunday Herald's legal adviser, said it was unacceptablefor unelected judges to make the decisions to grant injunctions in private.[LNB]
