Carina Trimingham, the partner of former energy secretary Chris Huhne, has been ordered to pay more than £400,000 after she lost her high court claim for damages for alleged breach of privacy and harassment against the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday.
Trimingham was seeking compensation and an injunction over 65 "highly unpleasant and hurtful" articles. These included references to the "life and very different loves of the PR girl in Doc Martens" and a piece by Daily Mail columnist Richard Littlejohn which described her as a "comedy lesbian from central casting" in a 24 June 2010 article.
But Mr Justice Tugendhat said in a written judgment: "Ms Trimingham was not the purely private figure she claims to be. Her reasonable expectation of privacy has become limited.
"This is mainly by reason of her involvement with Mr Huhne, both professionally as his press agent and personally as his secret mistress, in circumstances where he campaigned with a leaflet to the electorate of Eastleigh about how much he valued his family."
He dismissed her claim, refused her permission to appeal and ordered her to pay Associated Newspapers' legal costs.
Tugendhat said £250,000, which is covered by her insurance, must be paid within 14 days, but she can find the balance of the £410,000 total later.
Trimingham was Huhne's press officer during the 2010 general election, when he was seeking re-election as Liberal Democrat MP for Eastleigh in Hampshire. She was at the time in a civil partnership with partner Julie Bennett.
In January last year Huhne was divorced by his wife, Vicky Price, because of his admitted adultery with Trimingham.
Huhne's trial with his ex-wife for allegedly perverting the course of justice over a driving offence is due to be heard in October.
Daily Mail journalist Andrew Pierce gave a robust statement outside the high court, saying that the judgment was a "vindication of our journalists and our journalism".
He said that Trimingham had been working in public relations for a number of years and "when she left her wife to move in with a cabinet minister she knew this would be part of the story and the judgment accepted that". He described it as "an important day for our journalism".
Asked if he regretted any of the Mail's coverage or felt sympathy for Trimingham, Pierce replied that the paper had been "utterly vindicated by that judgment", adding: "She says in court she's in love with Chris Huhne and I wish her all the happiness with that."
Trimingham, also speaking outside court, said: "I'm extremely disappointed by this judgment. There is a ray of light however. Thankfully the court has accepted today that repeated mocking of a person by a national newspaper by reference to their sexual orientation would be so oppressive as to amount to harassment.
"However, the court did not appreciate that when national newspapers make repeated irrelevant references to my sexuality – particularly in the context of pejorative and stereotypical reference to appearance – it amounts to the same kind of mocking which the court has confirmed is unacceptable. This is confused, and I think wrong. I am very concerned that this judgment may become a blueprint for bullies and bigots. I intend to appeal."
In his written judgment, Tugendhat said that although the Mail referred to Trimingham's sexuality in 65 articles over a period of 15 months it "only did so (a) when writing about matters of public interest, mainly in developments in Mr Huhne's personal life which were relevant to his public life and (b) when Ms Trimingham and her conduct (and other information about her) were within the range of what an editor could in good faith regard as relevant to the story".
The judge added: "The distress that she has undoubtedly suffered since 19 June 2010 is the result of the publication by the defendant [Associated Newspapers] of the defamatory and true information concerning her, about which she has not made a claim in defamation, and the actions of journalists and publishers for whom the defendant is not responsible.
"To the extent that the words complained of include insults and other offensive matter, insulting and offensive speech is protected by the right of freedom of expression."
Despite finding in Associated Newspapers' favour, Tugendhat also warned that his judgment was not a licence "to repeat the words complained of indefinitely or in any circumstances", as it was not a libel action in which a defence of truth had been proved.
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