Ryan Giggs privacy damages claim against Sun rejected

A privacy damages claim against the Sun newspaper brought by Manchester United and Wales footballer Ryan Giggs has today been thrown out by the high court.

The claim was made after the tabloid published an article about a relationship with reality television star Imogen Thomas.

Hugh Tomlinson QC, representing Giggs, argued in court last month that the Sun had misused private information in the article - in which Giggs was not identified.

The footballer was seeking damages for distress and breach of privacy caused by the re-publication of information in other newspapers and online.

Sun publisher News Group Newspapers said in court at the time that the paper had behaved properly and was not responsible for what happened after publication.

In a written judgment handed down this morning, Mr Justice Tugendhat said he had decided to "refuse to grant relief" to Giggs.

He said: "News Group Newspapers (NGN) can hardly say that it has won this action, if it remains struck out. The fact that Mr Giggs was named as the subject of the article was not something achieved by NGN in this action. It was a consequence of the acts of third parties out of court.

"There is no suggestion that NGN was behind the widespread publication of Mr Giggs's identity, so this is not a case where it could be said that his identity came into the public domain as a result of a breach by NGN of the injunction."

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