Media 'to sit in on gagging order cases'

JOURNALISTS could be allowed into court hearings in which celebrities ask for publicity about their affairs to be banned, under reforms to be announced this week.

It was reported today that the Master of the Rolls, Lord Neuberger, will instruct judges to open the doors of previously private hearings in which "super-injunctions" are sought. The move is expected to come in a report by Lord Neuberger on Friday and is intended to counter criticism that press freedom is being stifled. It will also give the media greater ability to contest the court orders and to be told more clearly the reasons why they are granted.

However, judges will retain the power to bar publication of the identities of those seeking injunctions and the disclosure of details about their affairs. In one case this week, a judge heard allegations that a super-injunction had been imposed on reporting about an alleged affair involving a footballer and reality TV star Imogen Thomas because she had sought to blackmail the player.

Ms Thomas said today that this was "totally untrue" and that all she had ever obtained from the star was a £250 handbag that had been given to her as a gift.