“I am in a serious relationship with Carina Trimingham and I am separating from my wife”
“The Defendant shall not harass the Claimant. The Defendant shall also refrain from further publication that makes direct or indirect reference to the Claimant’s sexual orientation, unless such reference is relevant beyond the mere fact of her current relationship with Mr Huhne and her separation from her former partner. ”
“Article 10 freedom of expression (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority ... (2) The exercise of these freedoms since it carries with it duties and responsibilities, may be subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society … for the protection of health or morals, for protection of the … rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence ...”
“1. The press must avoid prejudicial or pejorative reference to an individual’s race, colour, religion, gender, sexual orientation or to any physical or mental illness or disability. 2. Details of an individual’s race, colour, religion, sexual orientation, physical or mental illness or disability must be avoided unless genuinely relevant to the story.”
“[she] is said to wear her short, dark hair in spikes to accentuate her youthful looks”
“it seems like yesterday that she was out drinking in bars while promoting the latest popstar”
“it seems like yesterday that she was out drinking in bars while promoting the latest popstar”
“1. Being the other woman in Chris Huhne’s tangled love life might be considered drama enough for some, but now it emerges that his 44-year-old mistress Carina Trimingham has left behind her very own trail of heartbreak and betrayal. 2. While Huhne’s wife, economist Vicky Pryce is coming to terms with her husband’s adulterous affair, so too is Ms Trimingham’s civil partner, psychotherapist … who knew nothing of it until it was made public at the weekend. 3. Ms Trimingham is believed to have embarked on her passionate relationship with 55-year-old Cabinet Minster Huhne less than an year after her civil partnership ceremony with 56-year-old … in June 2007. 4. The couple, who until this week were still living under the same roof at their jointly owned London home separated at Christmas with Ms Trimingham insisting that no one else was involved in her decision to end their union. 5. ‘This will destroy… this will break her heart,’ says her civil partner’s sister…, insisting that former political reporter and media consultant Ms Trimingham had been living a lie in recent months. … 8 According to one friend: ‘Carina kept saying she did not want to hurt……. Was buxom older, fiery and they had been together a few years and only married recently. They seemed like a very happy lesbian couple’. 9. But behind her partners back Carina began to confide in friends that she was having a sexual relationship with a man without initially identifying him. 10. Her friend adds “She would go on about how she and this man were having wild sex several times a night. She was quite surprised by the whole thing as she had not been into men for a long time. Apparently the sex was incredible”
“Talking of which, popsy Carina – big strong girl unlucky not to catch the England rugby selectors’ eyes for inclusion in the World Cup squad as a second-row forward – was sitting in the front next to Brian Paddick. Gay Brian, LibDem London mayoral candidate, has theories about how to make villains go straight. Carina herself was gay but swapped ends after meeting Chris. Chris dumped his Greek wife, the one who looks like Beattie from the BT ads…”
“It always surprises me when men leave their wives for uglier women”
“he will have to live with a lying cheating manipulative Lesbian who looks like a horse”
"1 (1) A person must not pursue a course of conduct – (a) which amounts to harassment of another, and (b) which he knows or ought to know amounts to harassment of the other… (2) The person whose course of conduct is in question ought to know that it amounts to or involves harassment of another if a reasonable person in possession of the same information would think the course of conduct amounted to or involved harassment of the other. (3) Subsection (1) … does not apply to a course of conduct if the person who pursued it shows – … (c) that in the particular circumstances the pursuit of the course of conduct was reasonable. … 2 (1) A person who pursues a course of conduct in breach of section 1 is guilty of an offence… 3 (1) An actual or apprehended breach of Section 1 may be the subject of a claim in civil proceedings by the person who is or may be the victim of the course of conduct in question. (2) On such a claim, damages may be awarded for (among other things) any anxiety caused by the harassment and any financial loss resulting from the harassment… 7(2) References to harassing a person include alarming the person or causing the person distress. (3) A 'course of conduct' must involve – (a) in the case of conduct in relation to a single person conduct on at least two occasions in relation to that person.… (4) "
“Article 8 right to respect for private and family life (1) Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence. (2) There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society … for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.”
"There are a number of common law and statutory remedies of which it may be said that one at least of the underlying values they protect is a right of privacy. Sir Brian Neill's well known article "
“The Sun did not disassociate itself from its readers' letters. The opinions that these expressed were in line with the tone of the article that had provoked them. The letters were critical both of the complaint and of the punishment of the sergeants for allegedly racist remarks and, thus, inevitably, made comments about racism. However, none of the letters ostensibly suggested that the conduct of the respondent which was criticised was attributable to her race. It seems to me that these letters add to the respondent's case that the appellants were pursuing a course of conduct which they could foresee was likely to cause her distress, but do not, when taken in isolation, add to the respondent's case that this course of conduct was racist.”
“[24] Section 3 of the HRA requires the court, so far as it is possible to do so, to interpret and give effect to legislation in a manner which is compatible with Convention rights. Section 12 of the HRA emphasises the care which the court must take not to interfere with journalistic freedom unless satisfied that this is necessary according to the principles to which I have referred. Both these sections are important when considering the ambit of the criminal offence and the civil tort of harassment created by the 1997 Act in the context of publications by the media. Harassment must not be given an interpretation which restricts the right of freedom of expression, save in so far as this is necessary in order to achieve a legitimate aim. When considering that question, the court is required by section 2 of the HRA to have regard to the Strasbourg jurisprudence. [30] The Act does not attempt to define the type of conduct that is capable of constituting harassment. "Harassment" is, however, a word which has a meaning which is generally understood. It describes conduct targeted at an individual which is calculated to produce the consequences described in section 7 and which is oppressive and unreasonable. The practice of stalking is a prime example of such conduct. [32] Whether conduct is reasonable will depend upon the circumstances of the particular case. When considering whether the conduct of the press in publishing articles is reasonable for the purposes of 1997 Act, the answer does not turn upon whether opinions expressed in the article are reasonably held. The question must be answered by reference to the right of the press to freedom of expression which has been so emphatically recognised by the jurisprudence both of Strasbourg and this country. [33] Prior to the 1997 Act, the freedom with which the press could publish facts or opinions about individuals was circumscribed by the law of defamation. Protection of reputation is a legitimate reason to restrict freedom of expression. Subject to the law of defamation, the press was entitled to publish an article, or series of articles, about an individual, notwithstanding that it could be foreseen that such conduct was likely to cause distress to the subject of the article. [34] The 1997 Act has not rendered such conduct unlawful. In general, press criticism, even if robust, does not constitute unreasonable conduct and does not fall within the natural meaning of harassment. A pleading, which does no more than allege that the defendant newspaper has published a series of articles that have foreseeably caused distress to an individual, will be susceptible to a strike-out on the ground that it discloses no arguable case of harassment. [35] … before press publications are capable of constituting harassment, they must be attended by some exceptional circumstance which justifies sanctions and the restriction on the freedom of expression that they involve. It is also common ground that such circumstances will be rare. [37] The publication of press articles calculated to incite racial hatred of an individual provides an example of conduct which is capable of amounting to harassment.”
“Pejorative: A word or expression which by its form or context expresses or implies contempt for the thing named; a derogatory word or form.”
“hostile towards homosexuals”
“A person is guilty of an offence if, with intent to cause a person harassment, alarm or distress, he... (b) displays any writing, ... which is threatening, abusive or insulting, thereby causing that or another person harassment, alarm or distress”
“[36] I have no doubt that the appellant was not to be regarded as expressing a political opinion which attracts the high level of protection. He was indulging in offensive abuse of a journalist whom he regarded as carrying out on his newspaper's behalf activities which the appellant regarded as abhorrent. Nevertheless, …, Article 10 applied. Anyone is entitled to say what he likes of another provided he does not act unlawfully and so commits an offence under, for example, the Public Order Act. Surprising as it may perhaps appear to some, the right of freedom of speech does extend to abuse. Observations, however offensive, are covered… [39] However offensive and undeserving of protection the appellant's outburst may have appeared to some, it is important that any individual knows that he can say what he likes, provided it is not unlawful, unless there are clear and satisfactory reasons within the terms of Article 10(2) to render him liable to sanctions.”
“Nobody had to stop and listen. If they did so, they were as free to express the view that the preachers should be locked up or silenced as the appellant and her companions were to preach. ... Mr. Kealy was prepared to accept that blame could not attach for a breach of the peace to a speaker so long as what she said was inoffensive. This will not do. Free speech includes not only the inoffensive but the irritating, the contentious, the eccentric, the heretical, the unwelcome and the provocative provided it does not tend to provoke violence. Freedom only to speak inoffensively is not worth having. ... From the condemnation of Socrates to the persecution of modern writers and journalists, our world has seen too many examples of state control of unofficial ideas. A central purpose of the European Convention on Human Rights has been to set close limits to any such assumed power. We in this country continue to owe a debt to the jury which in 1670 refused to convict the Quakers William Penn and William Mead for preaching ideas which offended against state orthodoxy.”
“Freedom of expression, after all, is one of the human rights guaranteed in the Convention because it is an integral part of the foundation of a democratic state and pluralism has long been recognised by the Strasbourg Court as one of the essential ingredients of a democracy (see for example Handyside v UK (1979-80) 1 EHRR 737 at [49]). While I accept that the subjective perception of a journalist cannot convert an issue into one of public interest if it is not …, the Court's objective assessment of whether there is a public interest in the publication must acknowledge that in a plural society there will be a range of views as to what matters or is of significance in particular in terms of a person's suitability for a high profile position.”
“Freedom of expression constitutes one of the essential foundations of such a society, one of the basic conditions for its progress and for the development of every man. Subject to paragraph 2 of Article 10, it is applicable not only to "information" or "ideas" that are favourably received or regarded as inoffensive or as a matter of indifference, but also to those that offend, shock or disturb the State or any sector of the population. Such are the demands of that pluralism, tolerance and broadmindedness without which there is no "democratic society".”
“(a) Freedom of expression constitutes one of the essential foundations of a democratic society; subject to paragraph 2 of Article 10, it is applicable not only to "information" or "ideas" that are favourably received or regarded as inoffensive or as a matter of indifference, but also to those that offend, shock or disturb. Freedom of expression, as enshrined in Article 10, is subject to a number of exceptions which, however, must be narrowly interpreted and the necessity for any restrictions must be convincingly established. (b) These principles are of particular importance as far as the press is concerned. Whilst it must not overstep the bounds set, inter alia, in the "interests of national security" or for "maintaining the authority of the judiciary", it is nevertheless incumbent on it to impart information and ideas on matters of public interest. Not only does the press have the task of imparting such information and ideas: the public also has a right to receive them…”
“It is not for this Court, nor for the national courts for that matter, to substitute their own views for those of the press as to what technique of reporting should be adopted by journalists.”
“What's in a name? "A lot", the press would answer. This is because stories about particular individuals are simply much more attractive to readers than stories about unidentified people. It is just human nature. And this is why, of course, even when reporting major disasters, journalists usually look for a story about how particular individuals are affected. Writing stories which capture the attention of readers is a matter of reporting technique, and the European Court holds that article 10 protects not only the substance of ideas and information but also the form in which they are conveyed: News Verlags GmbH & Co KG v Austria(2000) 31 EHRR 246 , 256, para 39, quoted at para 35 above. More succinctly, Lord Hoffmann observed in Campbell v MGN Ltd[2004] 2 AC 457 , 474, para 59, "judges are not newspaper editors." See also Lord Hope of Craighead in In re British Broadcasting Corpn[2009] 3 WLR 142 , 152, para 25. This is not just a matter of deference to editorial independence. The judges are recognising that editors know best how to present material in a way that will interest the readers of their particular publication and so help them to absorb the information. A requirement to report it in some austere, abstract form, devoid of much of its human interest, could well mean that the report would not be read and the information would not be passed on.”
“each member of the majority specifically underlined the protection to be accorded to journalists as regards the techniques of reporting they adopt and as regards decisions taken about the content of published material to ensure credibility, as well as journalists' duties and responsibilities to act in good faith and on an accurate factual basis to provide “reliable and precise” information in accordance with the ethics of journalism (citing, in particular, Jersild v. Denmark…)…”
“59. The question is then whether the Mirror should have confined itself to these bare facts or whether it was entitled to reveal more of the circumstantial detail and print the photographs. If one applies the test of necessity or proportionality which I have suggested, this is a matter on which different people may have different views. That appears clearly enough from the judgments which have been delivered in this case. But judges are not newspaper editors. …”
“The freedom of speech protected by the law of qualified privilege may be availed of by all sorts and conditions of men. In affording to them immunity from suit if they have acted in good faith in compliance with a legal or moral duty or in protection of a legitimate interest the law must take them as it finds them. In ordinary life it is rare indeed for people to form their beliefs by a process of logical deduction from facts ascertained by a rigorous search for all available evidence and a judicious assessment of its probative value. In greater or in less degree according to their temperaments, their training, their intelligence, they are swayed by prejudice, rely on intuition instead of reasoning, leap to conclusions on inadequate evidence and fail to recognise the cogency of material which might cast doubt on the validity of the conclusions they reach….As regards irrelevant matter the test is not whether it is logically relevant but whether, in all the circumstances, it can be inferred that the defendant either did not believe it to be true or, though believing it to be true, realised that it had nothing to do with the particular duty or interest on which the privilege was based, but nevertheless seized the opportunity to drag in irrelevant defamatory matter to vent his personal spite, or for some other improper motive. Here, too, judges and juries should be slow to draw this inference.”
“Where … the quality of the conduct said to constitute harassment is being examined, courts … are well able to recognise the boundary between conduct which is unattractive, even unreasonable, and conduct which is oppressive and unacceptable. To cross the boundary from the regrettable to the unacceptable the gravity of the misconduct must be of an order which would sustain criminal liability under section 2.”
“Crucial to … Lord Nicholls' determination [in Majrowski as to the type of conduct that crosses the line into harassment is]… that the conduct concerned must be of an order that would sustain criminal liability, and not merely civil liability on some other register. … what occurred is a very long way away from anything that, in a sensible criminal regime, would lead to a prosecution, much less to a conviction. That is underlined by the fact found by the recorder that the language and actions that were used were used to three men, one of whom was upset by them (Mr Conn), two of them were not ... Now, against that background I do not start to see how it could be said that [the foreman] ought to have known that what he was doing amounted to a criminal course of conduct. If it was not criminal toward [the two others], and plainly a criminal prosecution in respect of them would have been bound to fail, I do not see how it could be criminal in respect of Mr Conn.”
“[The Judge] assessed their personalities, which he rightly considered to be at the heart of the issues in this case. He recorded what other people had said about the claimant - that she was tough, a woman of strong character, not likely to be upset by comments or offensive language, a woman who was known to give as good as she got.”
“[38] Particularly in the light of the fact that the appellant declined to institute defamation proceedings to challenge the correctness of the thrust of the robust allegations of serious criminality made in the articles we conclude that the judge was correct to conclude that the appellant had not made out a case of harassment. [39] We have differed from the judge on the question whether the respondent was wrong to have published details of the identity of the partner and the photograph of the partner. To that limited extent we allow the appeal. While we have differed from the judge's reasoning in deciding to prohibit a publication of the religion of the partner we do not differ from him in the result. We conclude that the judge was correct in deciding that the appellant had not made out a case of harassment.”
“The Court notes that O.T. had been politically active in local politics and that her recruitment to the presidential election campaign had attracted political interest. Even though she could not be considered as a civil servant or a politician in the traditional sense of the word, she was not a completely private person either. Due to her function in the presidential election campaign, she had been publicly promoting the goals and objectives of one of the presidential candidates by belonging to his inner circle and by being therefore visible in the media during the campaign. The Court considers that, when taking up her duties as a communications officer for one of the two presidential candidates, she must have understood that her own person would also attract public interest and that the scope of her protected private life would become somewhat more limited.”
“9B(c) [part of the plea of harassment by the Readers’ Comments]: “It would have been obvious to any reasonable person that comments of this type would cause unwarranted distress on the part of their subject Ms Trimingham. 9C: The Defendant ought reasonably to have known that the above course of conduct constituted harassment. This was particularly the case upon notification of Ms Trimingham’s case by the Particulars of Claim, served on13 August 2010 , and upon the receipt of Ms Trimingham’s first and then her second witness statements [on 12 July and in September 2011] (by reason of the fact that those witness statements made clear the level of distress which she was experiencing as a result of the course of conduct). 10.3 [part of the plea of damages]: Those involved in writing and approving publication of the words and photographs complained of would have known that their publication in whole or in part was likely to constitute a breach of Ms Trimingham’s privacy right and/or her statutory right.”
“Ms TRIMINGHAM: That is not what I heard at the time. Mr WHITE: That will be the evidence in the case. Ms TRIMINGHAM: Fine.”
“Ms TRIMINGHAM: Not first hand but I was telephoned that evening and was told that the journalist had stolen the photographs from [the sister]’s house. Mr WHITE: You persist in that allegation, do you, even though you know Miss Morgan is coming to give evidence this afternoon? Ms TRIMINGHAM: I’m just telling you what I was told.”
“Carina and I often discussed the content of the Defendant’s coverage, which by midway through 2011 had gone far beyond what could have been regarded as fair comment”
“Hello Sweetie, you asked me to provide my bank details so you can pay me for the Nick Clegg 18 shags story”
“9. I wrote the words ‘bi-sexual’. I did so because it is interesting to people and because I had no reason to believe that Carina would mind being so described. As I explained in my first statement, I had met Carina shortly after the publication of my article in 2010 about Brian Paddick and she did not complain about, or mention, my description of her as a ‘spiky bisexual activist’. Knowing how forthright Carina is, she would not have hesitated to tell me if she thought the description was offensive or hurtful. 10. In my 25 to 30 years at Westminster I have never come across a situation quite like this where a cabinet minister leaves his wife and the ‘other woman’ is in a gay relationship, and not just that but is in a legally binding partnership with another woman. In my opinion that is extremely relevant to the reporting of the story. It is not just titillation, it is relevant context and fact. This is a situation where both the Cabinet Minister and his aide have left their wives for their affair. It is far from ordinary and is something to comment on. 11. When I refer to Carina as bi-sexual, I was referring to, and reminding readers, of that public interest story. I could have said ‘lesbian’ but given what is in the public domain I said bisexual. Had Carina not entered into a civil partnership then maybe I would not have referred to it. But it was Carina’s decision to enter into a civil partnership. To me this elevated her relationship from a private matter to a public statement. Her promise to her partner was not a private statement and celebration with family and friends. The act of entering a civil partnership was a public declaration of her sexuality and her commitment to another woman. Carina was in effect saying that she is out and she is proud of her sexuality and her relationship with her female partner. If they were girlfriends who had not entered into a public partnership then I might have taken the view that it was a private affair. That is not the case here. I have never ever believed that the media has a right to publicly out gay men and women who choose not to go public about their sexuality. To this day I know MP’s Labour and Tory who are gay but have not come out. So even though Carina had been at the hustings with her female partner, had she not been open about her sexuality and had she not been in a civil partnership, I would not have referred to her sexuality. But the civil partnership was a legal public declaration of not just her sexuality but her love and commitment to another woman. 12. As I mentioned in my first statement I was shocked to learn Carina was in a relationship with Chris Huhne and that he was leaving his wife to be with her. The next time I met Carina I told her just how shocked I was. Carina was very good humoured and typically open about this development. 13. There was no direction from the editorship to report events or news relating to Carina Trimingham in a certain way. My column is a personal column which I write and I wrote the term ‘bisexual girlfriend’ because I thought it was relevant to the story. I maintain its relevance now. 14. I was aware that Carina had issued a privacy complaint against Associated Newspapers. At the time I heard Carina had sued in privacy I could not understand why. I do not believe the fact of Carina’s bisexuality is private because in my experience Carina was always open about her sexuality and it was no secret that she was in a relationship with a woman… 15. In my view it is both in the public interest and the public is interested in knowing this information. When you are in a senior position as a Cabinet Minister and when you have made much of family values, and when you have campaigned on family values and the person you have an affair with is the same person who has been privy to that election strategy, that to my mind is relevant information that is in the public interest. Carina was party to the deception practiced on Chris Huhne’s wife and family, the public and electorate, and that is also important information. It is further very relevant that Carina was at the same time in a civil partnership with a woman and was deceiving her own partner. There were two women betrayed here. One was Mr Huhne’s wife and the mother of his children who never ever feared that Carina was a threat to her marriage because she was in a legally binding relationship with a woman – and Carina’s civil partner. 16. Whether Carina likes it or not, her status as a lesbian woman and Chris Huhne’s aide made the story more interesting, more engaging to readers and a talking point. Raising legitimate discussion in this way is what the papers are supposed to do… 17. As I explained in my first statement, my experience is that Carina is an open, up front and direct woman. She is characterful, gossipy and great fun. I would also chat with Carina whenever I saw her at an event and we would have a laugh. 18. She is very far from being shy or retiring, on the contrary, in my experience she is robust and thick skinned. She has been a journalist and has worked in PR so she has seen both sides of the equation. In my experience Carina dished it out in both roles. Carina always struck me as one of us, ‘a hack’ at heart often seen whispering indiscretions about politicians at events. She worked in TV and she worked in the rough and tumble world of politics with the Lib Dems in the 1900’s and 2000’s when they were not going anywhere at all. Carina used to work for London’s Diary in the London Evening Standard so was used to writing unflattering stories about public figures. When I edited The People column in The Times Carina was always the sort of person I would and did speak to at a party or even telephone, for some tit-bits about politicians she was always very game. 19. I am very surprised that Carina claims to have been offended by any of the coverage and I would not have expected it because of her character and because Carina knows the game and the business. She would have known as a journalist and a PR that she would be an integral part of the story. When she worked for TV she would have booked me and others for the GMTV sofa to discuss events just like this. Chris Huhne was in a high profile position (as one of only five Lib Dem Cabinet Ministers and one of the first since the war) and Carina was in a position of trust with Chris Huhne and his family. Carina should have known that her civil partnership status would be seen as relevant and interesting and would be reported on. 20. Politicians and people in the public eye are never too happy when they are subject to the sketch writers’ treatment. The fact is, like it or not, Carina, is a strapping woman who towers over most men including me. She did have a spiky haircut, I often saw her in shoes which looked like Doc Martens. I don’t think the coverage that Carina complains about is offensive but colourful – if a little clichéd. Knowing Carina as I do I find it hard to accept that she would have found it either surprising or truly offensive. For my part, I would not have done or written anything that I thought for a moment could be reasonably seen as harassment of Carina (or anyone else).”
“It is inconceivable I would go to work for a paper that has any homophobic ethos. I am a gay man, I have been out since I was 22. I have been a member of Stonewall, the equal rights organisation. I have marched for gay equality long before it was fashionable. In fact, in the days when certain newspapers – not the Daily Mail, … – used to refer to AIDS as the ‘gay plague’. I have supported Stonewall’s campaign for same sex age of consent, I supported Stonewall’s campaign for gay adoption or civil partnership and I think you will find I have been mentioned more than once in the annual pink list of influential gay men and women. I would just say another thing about Stonewall. It campaigns for equality for gay men, lesbian women and bisexuals and I am happy to be associated with that campaign and have been for many years. And indeed Stonewall have asked me to chair some of its fringe meeting in the Conservative Party Conference and I have appeared on many panels of the BBC and across the city, talking about the need for equality in the workplace. …”
“Can I say two things here? I am glad we are talking about this because part of Ms Trimingham’s assertion is that she is not a public figure. Well, I don’t accept that anyway because since Alistair Campbell, the age of the spin doctor has made the spin doctor part of the narrative, part of the political narrative. … Chris Huhne was in fact one of the negotiators in the coalition cabinet. As for the AV campaign, that made Carina Trimingham, in my view, … even more of a public figure because there were vast amounts of public money involved in the campaign, it was a key part of the coalition agreement and it was the first national referendum in this country since 1975. The Electoral Reform Society was running that campaign. Carina Trimingham was the Campaign Director for the Electoral Reform Society and if the vote in the AV referendum had been yes, the constitution of this country would have been changed in the most dramatic way, in my view, since we joined the Common Market after the last referendum. That made her even more of a public figure. … the other thing I would say… is that because she was part of a marriage break up, she was having an affair with a very senior Cabinet Minister, the fact that she left her civil partner that she was in a legally binding relationship with, her wife or civil partner, made her bisexuality entirely relevant. Now, I don’t believe the word bisexual is in any way pejorative and I have listened carefully to the evidence of Ms Trimingham and often, when The Daily Mail has used it, it has been almost in parenthesis as a short form for describing this woman who is in a marriage, where her partner was betrayed, who was a woman. It is in the public interest, it is unusual. It is – in my 30 years in journalism, I have never known a cabinet minister leave his wife for a woman who is in a legally binding relationship with another woman. And I will say this about equality… as part of the great equality agenda gay people have to put up with, sometimes, what straight people put up with in the public domain … That is why I mentioned her sexuality and that is why the AV issue is very important…”
“What I am saying there is when a Cabinet Minister leaves his wife for another woman, there is always a huge focus on the other women and if they happen to be married there will be a huge focus on that marriage. There was always going to be, with respect, even more focus because of the unusual factor that in this case, Ms Trimingham – Mr Huhne left his wife for a woman who was in a marriage with another woman. It is, of course, interesting and unusual and unique at Westminster. That is what I was making in that point.”
“Chris Huhne leaves Vicky, his pretty wife of 26 years, for the former lesbian Carina Trimingham. Now we discover he charged£1,500 on expenses to “service his old boiler”
“Chris Huhne’s bisexual lover Carina Trimingham allegedly questioned his estranged wife Vicky’s right to attend the Lib Dems Conference this week. For the record Mrs Huhne is a long serving member of the Party, a leading economist, and a member of Vince Cables advisory group. Ms Trimingham may seek to portray Mrs Huhne as “a woman scorned”
“MR RYDER: Ms Platell if it assists can I make it clear that you are here relating to a few articles you wrote, the suggestion is not that you alone have committed the wrong that is being talked about, it is the cumulative effect of a number of writers, I don’t wish you to think that you personally were responsible for the complaint. MS PLATELL… I am glad that this gives me the opportunity to say something very important to me. To have been cited in these particular items, to be accused of being homophobic or to have written things which are homophobic is one of the most offensive things you could say to me. … back in the 1980s I lost two of my closest gay friends to Aids, one of whom lived with me. In the newspaper in The Daily Mail only a few months ago I wrote a long piece about a man … who was openly gay and who had been one of my closest friends for 25 years. I employed him on Today newspaper at a time when there were virtually no gays in the press because it was a fairly homophobic place. I not only employed him, I went on to employ his partner and they remained friends of mine throughout [his life]. And the last witness you had in the stand yesterday, Andrew Pierce is my closest friend and as we all heard yesterday he has been openly gay for most of his adult life. He is part of my family, he comes on holiday with me, my parents adore him, and I find the accusation that I am anyway homophobic to be deeply disturbing and deeply hurtful.”
“Chris Huhne revealed last night that he had begged his ex wife Vicky Pryce to forgive him for leaving her for his bisexual aide, but she refused. The Energy Secretary expressed his ‘enormous regret’ about the break up of his 25-year marriage and admitted Ms Pryce remained very angry about the split. In a deeply personal interview at a Liberal Democrat fringe event, Mr Huhne acknowledged he had behaved badly after walking out on the mother of his three children for his mistress Carina Trimingham. …”
“As well as Shriver, there is Vicky Pryce, estranged wife of Chris Huhne, who was once a high-flying Greek economist …. All changed when Vicky learned that her husband was having an affair with Carina Trimingham, his sometime press aide and a Doc-Martens-wearing former lesbian. Oh, Chris, Chris. Hell is a rather cosy, cheerful place compared to the wrath of a wife whose man runs off with a bisexual woman twice her size. Plus the unfortunate Ms Trimingham looks like the love child of Tommy Cooper and Bernard Bresslaw. Huhne was not just guilty of lousy morals, but shocking taste.”
“…where a cabinet minister leaves his wife and the ‘other woman’ is in a gay relationship, and not just that but is in a legally binding partnership with another woman. In my opinion that is extremely relevant to the reporting of the story. It is not just titillation, it is relevant context and fact. This is a situation where both the Cabinet Minister and his aide have left their wives for their affair. It is far from ordinary and is something to comment on.”
“… in my 30 years in journalism, I have never known a cabinet minister leave his wife for a woman who is in a legally binding relationship with another woman. And I will say this about equality… as part of the great equality agenda gay people have to put up with, sometimes, what straight people put up with in the public domain … That is why I mentioned her sexuality…”
“… I have always been generally open about having had relationships with men and women. I am “out” about my relationships and my sexuality with people I am comfortable with, such as family, friends and colleagues. There is nothing extraordinary about this in this day and age…”
"The question is what a reasonable person of ordinary sensibilities would feel if she was placed in the same position as the claimant and faced the same publicity"
“In Douglas v Hello! (No 3)[2005] EWCA Civ 595 ,[2006] QB 125 , Lord Phillips CJ, giving the judgment of this court, said at [55]: ‘It seems to us that information will be confidential if it is available to one person (or a group of people) and not generally available to others, provided that the person (or group) who possesses the information does not intend that it should be available to others.’” ‘It seems to us that information will be confidential if it is available to one person (or a group of people) and not generally available to others, provided that the person (or group) who possesses the information does not intend that it should be available to others.’”
“The 1997 photograph is closer to the borderline. It was taken openly …. It shows nothing remarkable, but it does show the two of them together in a hotel bedroom. I am prepared to accept that this, too, was information which in principle was capable of protection and whose publication would, subject to the balancing test, infringe the Claimant's rights under Article 8. Wood v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis [201] 1 WLR 123 confirms that an intrusion must reach a certain level of seriousness before it is even in principle capable of being protected by Article 8. The Court of Appeal concluded that the mere taking of photographs of demonstrators in the street did not reach that level of seriousness, but it was different when it came to the retention of the photographs. Laws LJ (with whom, on this issue, the other members of the Court agreed) made clear at [31] that he was not considering the publication of photographs…”
“(1) A person who for private and domestic purposes commissions the taking of a photograph … has, where copyright subsists in the resulting work, the right not to have— (a) copies of the work issued to the public; (b) the work exhibited or shown in public, ...and, except as mentioned in subsection (2), a person who does or authorises the doing of any of those acts infringes that right.”
“103(1) An infringement of a right conferred by Chapter IV (moral rights) is actionable as a breach of statutory duty owed to the person entitled to the right.”
“172 General provisions as to construction. (1) This Part restates and amends the law of copyright, that is, the provisions of theCopyright Act 1956 , as amended. (2) A provision of this Part which corresponds to a provision of the previous law shall not be construed as departing from the previous law merely because of a change of expression. (3) Decisions under the previous law may be referred to for the purpose of establishing whether a provision of this Part departs from the previous law, or otherwise for establishing the true construction of this Part.”
“…, where a person commissions the taking of a photograph, … and pays or agrees to pay for it in money or money's worth, and the work is made in pursuance of that commission, the person who so commissioned the work shall be entitled to any copyright subsisting therein ...”