🧐 Mystery Celebrity Battles to Gag Media Over Alleged Pattern of Exploitative Sexual Conduct.
😱 Court Hears Publication Could Prove Fatal!
A high-profile but unnamed figure is fighting in the High Court to stop major news organisations from publishing claims that he repeatedly abused his fame and status to pursue inappropriate and exploitative sexual activities with girls and young women.
The man, known only as PPT, is currently detained in a psychiatric hospital. Mr Justice Nicklin has made clear he will not decide whether the allegations are true, only whether they can be published.
What we know so far:
• PPT is seeking a permanent injunction against both The Guardian and ITN (which produces news for ITV and Channel 4) to block the story.
• The media organisations say the allegations come from a wide-ranging investigation involving more than 100 people spoken to, including more than 30 first-hand accounts. They describe a pattern of behaviour spanning many years in which PPT allegedly used his power and status to contact young women.
• PPT denies the allegations. His barrister, Sara Mansoori KC, told the court that publication “would have a potentially fatal impact”, adding: “The only reason they would not be fatal is because the claimant would be locked up and prevented from his desire to end his life.”
• She said he has already attempted suicide twice in connection with the matter. Once after receiving letters from the media organisations and again after absconding from hospital, and has been examined by more than 10 doctors.
Mansoori stated: “This is not a case where an individual has spuriously raised ‘mental health’ concerns in the face of an impending publication that they do not wish to occur.”
• PPT “has no intention of returning to public life”, according to his legal team.
• Lawyers for the media organisations argue there is a strong public interest, citing the similarity of accounts from sources who mostly did not know each other, and noting that “Many of the women who have reported these allegations have been traumatised by the claimant’s alleged conduct and have suffered mental health crises and mental illness as a result”.
Mr Justice Nicklin warned against online speculation about PPT’s identity, saying: “The existence of online speculation, however confidently expressed or widely repeated, does not authorise anyone to identify, or purport authoritatively to identify, PPT in connection with these proceedings. Nor does repetition transform speculation into established fact.”
The two-day hearing is expected to conclude on Wednesday, with a written judgment to follow.