Monday, May 23, 2011

Imogen Thomas Footballer Identity; Footballer 'Entitled To Anonymity', Says Judge

The football star who had an affair with Imogen Thomas was being named every second on Twitter last night - making a mockery of a High Court judge's ban. BBC says that Justice Eady has reserved judgement on lifting the injunction after a private hearing with the man's lawyers, the Sun and Imogen Thomas in London.
“Thirty thousand people have now broken the law by telling a joke. This is making the judge’s application of the law a joke. In the newspaper’s editorial,

The Sunday Herald said “Today we identify the footballer whose name has been linked to a court superinjunction by thousands of postings on Twitter. BBC News reports that it comes after Twitter users reacted to a footballer’s attempt to find out who is putting information about him on the website by posting new messages online. British Prime Minister David Cameron has said that banning newspapers from naming stars at the centre of injunctions while the information is widely available on the internet is both “unsustainable” and “unfair”.

In an 8-page judgment on the granting of the super injunction to gag Imogen Thomas, Mr Justice Eady said that evidence before the court “appeared strongly to suggest that the claimant was being blackmailed”. According to Bloomberg, the unnamed married footballer involved in the Imogen Thomas case is suing Twitter. The judge has reserved judgement on the application regarding the e-mails, and the application to vary or lift the injunction.

Another lawyer, Mark Stephens, who is not involved in the case, said: "By trying to stop the tide of information through the internet, he has become the King Canute of football."

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