Mirror wins Campbell appeal

The Mirror was ordered to pay £3,500 to Campbell

The Daily Mirror has won an appeal against a High Court ruling that it breached the confidentiality of supermodel Naomi Campbell.

Three Appeal Court judges said a story about the model's drug addiction was justified in the public interest.

The newspaper was contesting a High Court decision that it must pay £3,500 damages to Miss Campbell and her legal costs.

Where a public figure chooses to make untrue pronouncements about his, or her, private life, the press will normally be entitled to put the record straight

Lord Phillips

Piers Morgan, editor of the Mirror, said he and his team had been vindicated by Monday's judgement.

He told BBC news: "Naomi Campbell managed to keep up an image of herself as a non drug taking model and that would have been much more commercially beneficial to her.

"We were perfectly entitled to set the record straight and let the public know that, far from being a drug free model, she was actually a drug addict."

Mr Morgan said the article on Miss Campbell had been "sympathetic" and said the judgment was highly symbolic.

He added: "It is a firm message to celebrities out there who want to use the law as an extension of their PR firm that we newspapers will defend ourselves very vigorously."

'Shocked and angry'

In March, a High Court judge said it had been right to show Miss Campbell misled the public but said the paper had gone too far in publishing details of therapy that "bore the badge of confidentiality".

Miss Campbell said she had felt "shocked, angry, betrayed and violated" when the Mirror published pictures of her leaving a Narcotics Anonymous meeting.

In a statement on Monday, she said the case had been brought to establish her right of privacy and to ensure she and others could receive therapy without intrusion from the media.

She said the appeal court ruling had "sent a clear signal" that intrusion on her privacy by a newspaper was not legally actionable.

Miss Campbell, who was not in court, added: "This they say is because I had previously denied having a problem.

"I do not think it so terrible or extraordinary to want to keep private the fact that you have problems and are seeking treatment."

Legal bill

However, Lord Phillips, delivering the verdict with Lords Justices Chadwick and Keene, said the Human Rights Act, which gave a right to respect for family and private life, must be balanced against freedom of expression in the media.

Piers Morgan: "We were perfectly entitled to set the record straight"

He added: "Where a public figure chooses to make untrue pronouncements about his, or her, private life, the press will normally be entitled to put the record straight."

The three Lords refused Miss Campbell permission to appeal to the House of Lords, although her lawyers said later they would petition the Law Lords for a hearing.

Miss Campbell's counsel estimate she is facing a legal bill of about £650,000, around £100,000 low than the Mirror's figure.