''NEJ v BDZ (Helen Wood)'' (
011
The following is a list of different international call prefixes that need to be dialled when placing an international telephone call from different countries.
Countries by international prefix
Countries using optional carrier selection cod ...
EWHC 1972 (QB) is a 2011
High Court case involving issues of
privacy in English law
Privacy in English law is a rapidly developing area of English law that considers situations where individuals have a legal right to informational privacy - the protection of personal or private information from misuse or unauthorized disclosure ...
.
On 13 April 2011, Mr. Justice King granted an anonymised privacy injunction (often erroneously referred to as a
superinjunction), preventing the publication of details of an alleged extra-marital relationship between NEJ (described as "a world famous celebrity" and "an actor, well-known to the public"), and BDZ, a prostitute who claimed to have met and had sex with the actor in
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
in December 2009. At the 13 April hearing, the judge allowed BDZ to be named as 23-year-old
Helen Wood of
Bolton,
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...
. In its original form as granted by Mr. Justice Blake on 9 April 2011, the injunction had prevented the UK media from naming either party or reporting the reason why the injunction had been sought.
The case sparked a debate about whether the newspapers that wanted to publish Ms Wood's claims had a public interest defence based on
Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees the right to freedom of expression, or whether NEJ was entitled to privacy in accordance with
Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees the right to respect for private and family life. There was criticism that, as in ''
CTB v News Group Newspapers
''CTB v. News Group Newspapers'' is an English law, English legal case between Manchester United player Ryan Giggs, given the pseudonym CTB, and defendants News International, News Group Newspapers Limited and model Imogen Thomas.
On 14 April 201 ...
'', the court had allowed the woman involved to be named, but not the man. In his decision published in July 2011, Mr. Justice King explained that Wood had been named as she did not seek anonymity, and had offered information about the case to ''
The Sun''.
In an interview on
BBC Radio 5 Live
BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that broadcasts mainly news, sport, discussion, interviews and phone-ins. It is the principal BBC radio station covering sport in the United Kingdom, broadcast ...
in May 2011, Helen Wood criticised the injunction, saying that the publication of some of the alleged names of persons involved in injunctions on
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
had made "a mockery" of the law.
Helen Wood says Twitter makes a mockery of injunctions
BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...
, 9 May 2011.
, the injunction preventing the naming of NEJ remains in place.
See also
*2011 British privacy injunctions controversy
The British privacy injunctions controversy began in early 2011, when London-based tabloid newspapers published stories about anonymous celebrities that were intended to flout what are commonly (but not formally) known in English law as super-inj ...
*''Ferdinand v Mirror Group Newspapers
''Ferdinand v Mirror Group Newspapers'' is a 2011 High Court case in which the English footballer Rio Ferdinand was unsuccessful in preventing the publication of a tabloid newspaper story revealing details of an alleged sexual relationship.
B ...
''
*Human Rights Act 1998
The Human Rights Act 1998 (c. 42) is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which received royal assent on 9 November 1998, and came into force on 2 October 2000. Its aim was to incorporate into UK law the rights contained in the European Con ...
References
External links
Superinjunctions, gagging orders and injunctions: the full list
''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', 5 August 2011.
{{Privacy injunctions in English law
2011 in England
English privacy case law
2011 in United Kingdom case law