Manchester United's Ryan Giggs Consents To Legally Be Named As 'Affair Player'

Manchester United midfielder Ryan Giggs has consented to legally be named as the Premier League footballer who The Sun referred to in an article last year about an alleged extra-marital affair. Giggs has admitted for the first time that he sought an injunction last April against The Sun newspaper over an alleged affair, believed to be with former Big Brother contestant Imogen Thomas. His lawyer Hugh Tomlinson QC has told the High Court that Giggs has allowed the lifting of the anonymity of his name as part of the injunction. Meanwhile Giggs is seeking damages against The Sun for the distress caused by the article, alleging a breach of privacy by their actions for the repeated publications of his name in regards to the alleged affair after his name was leaked in other newspapers and on the internet. Tomlinson claimed this had "generated a large media storm" and that the damages claim was about "providing effective protection" to Giggs under the privacy of European Convention on Human Rights. "He has suffered damage and distress by the chain of events that has been set off by the publication of the article in The Sun," "We say the printing of information on the front page of a national newspaper can give rise to an action for misuse of private information." The Sun have responded saying Giggs's claim is "dead in the water" and should be put a stop to immediately. Having heard legal arguments from both sides at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, Mr Justice Tugendhat has reserved his decision on whether a trial is needed for the case.