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  1. Media Law
April 14, 2011

Injunction change gives Sun half of kiss-and-tell actor tale

By Dominic Ponsford

The Sun yesterday managed to get a High Court gagging order altered allowing it to publish half of a kiss-and-tell story involving a prostitute and a leading actor.

The paper (and others) today name the woman as Helen Wood – the same prostitute who told all about her sexual encounter with footballer Wayne Rooney last September.

On Saturday, Mr Justice Blake granted an injunction to the actor – referred to only as NEJ – banning the woman from making revelations to press which would breach his privacy.

Yesterday he lifted part of the order allowing Wood to be named. But he ruled that the actor’s name should remain secret pending a full trial of the matter.

The actor is believed to one of at least 30 high-profile figures who have been granted injunctions over the last two years allowing them to ban the publication of information which would breach their privacy.

The Sun today splashed with Wood’s story, in which she revealed that the married actor had paid her £195 for sex, was a “disgusting kisser” and had “eagerly agreed” when she offered to use a sex toy on him.

Meanwhile, The Sun also revealed today how a further privacy injunction has been brought out against it – this time by a married Premier League footballer who it says has been having an affair with reality TV star Imogen Thomas.

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He is believed to be the eighth UK footballer to use an injunction to stop newspaper revelations about his private life over the last two years.

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