By Hamish Mackay
Media pressure from the Scottish Daily Mail led to Kevin Costner being revealed as the Hollywood star who allegedly performed a "disgusting" sex act in front of a Scots hotel masseuse.
A gagging order banned his identification in the UK during the woman’s employment tribunal for unfair dismissal against the famous Old Course Hotel in St Andrews.
Lawyers for the hotel asked the tribunal in Dundee to continue the ban on naming the actor, who strongly denied the woman’s claims, and the hotel.
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Costner was honeymooning at the hotel in October 2004 with his second wife, handbag designer Christine Baumgartner.
However, tribunal chairman Nicol Hosie ruled Costner could be identified.
The woman, who is in her 30s and married, cannot be named for legal reasons.
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Advocate Laurence Kennedy, acting for the Scottish Daily Mail, successfully asked that Costner be named. He said the paper wanted to print the claims as allegations and not as fact, and pointed out that, although Costner would possibly be embarrassed, this was not enough for his name to be withheld.
Hosie said it was inconceivable Costner was unaware of the allegations.
A number of foreign newspapers and internet sites had aired the claims, he explained.
The masseuse has reached a settlement with the hotel.
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