Human rights

The claimant had a high public profile. The defendant, her boyfriend, had threatened to expose her adulterous relationship with a married man, who was also said to be a very high profile public figure. The claimant applied, without notice, for an interim injunction against the defendant, or for interim non-disclosure orders to restrain him from publishing pictures from her journal or other such private information about the affair. The Chancery Division, in granting the orders sought, held that it was satisfied on the evidence that the information in question was clearly private and personal information in relation to which the claimant had had a reasonable expectation of privacy and confidentiality. The claimant’s right to respect for her private life clearly weighed more heavily in the balance than the defendant’s desire to exercise any freedom of expression in publishing that private life.