Monday, May 23, 2011

British Court Censured UK Publications From Identifying Giggs In Alleged Affair

Photo: Sportsgrid dot com

Footballer gets British court to censor media from reporting alleged relationship with Welsh model.

By H. Nelson Goodson
May 23, 2011

Uk - On Sunday, the Sunday Herald tabloid defied a British court injunction to keep news publications from identifying Manchester United's footballer Ryan Giggs, 37, in an alleged seven month affair with Welsh model and former Big Brother star Imogen Thomas. Giggs succeeded to get a British court to issue an injunction against Thomas and the Sun Newspaper including a extended ban for any UK publication from identifying him in an alleged fling with Thomas.
The affair was first exposed by an unidentified Tweeter and then it went viral on the social networks when the court issued an injunction. At least 75,000 Twitter users spread the alleged affair and even John Hemming, the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament exposed Giggs name in addressing the Parliament concerning Giggs attempt to identify the users. Anyone exposing Giggs name would be in contempt of court resulting in hefty fines and possible jail time. Hemming argued Giggs push to hold Twitter users in contempt would be unlikely, but the British court affirmed the Giggs injunction despite several attempts to vacate the decision, BBC in UK reported.
The Sunday Herald in Scotland finally published the story on Sunday after being exposed on the social networks.
Giggs is also suing Twitter dot com a U.S. company to try and get the identity of the tweeter and users who tweeted the alleged affair with Thomas. Twitter dot com has not released the names.
In other media reports, Giggs accused Thomas of blackmail and exposing the affair, which she has denied. Giggs has been no stranger to controversy.
Giggs is currently married with children and the exposure of the affair with Thomas could lead into a messy divorce, if in fact the affair took place. Thomas hasn't denied the affair or has been able to get an injunction in a British court to keep her name out of the gossip columns.
Sportsgrid dot com reported that the Scotland's Sunday Herald agrued, since the Giggs and Thomas affair has been made public on social networks and Internet, the tabloids and media outlets in the UK should be allowed to publish the allegations.
The Sunday Herald didn't post the story on its website and since the paper is located in Scotland, the British injunction doesn't apply, according to editors.

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