Millionaire fails to silence ex-mistress

A millionaire racehorse owner has lost his Court of Appeal bid to overturn a ruling that allows his former mistress to disclose details about their 15-year affair.

Glory Clibbery went to the Daily Mail last April after losing a court battle over rights to a London Mayfair flat she claimed to have shared with Ivan Allan during their lengthy relationship.

Mr Allan originally sought an injunction last June to silence Miss Clibbery but Mr Justice Munby broke new legal ground by ruling there was no blanket ban on disclosures of material used in private Family Division court hearings not involving children.

He rejected Mr Allan's bid for an injunction but granted a temporary order and Family Division president Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, sitting with Lord Justice Thorpe and Lord Justice Keen, dismissed Mr Allan's appeal on Wednesday.

'End to secrecy'

Solicitors for Miss Clibbery said afterwards that the ruling "means the end of much of the secrecy and confidentiality that has shrouded the Family Division".

However, they stressed that cases involving children would still be confidential.

Miss Clibbery said she had been determined to publicise this case to alert women in her position to the fact that "those who assume that they have similar legal rights to those who are married will invariably face a rude awakening if the relationship fails".

But, in the words of Mr Justice Munby, she "reacted as a woman scorned".

I had never once used words of endearment and Miss Clibbery knew that there was no depth to our relationship

Ivan Allan

In a double-page newspaper spread headlined "I thought it was love but I was no more than a sexual servant", she disclosed a sworn statement to the court in which Mr Allan said: "We share nothing.

"As unfeeling as it sounds, I paid her to be at my disposal, in particular for sexual activity.

"It was not correct that I have ever loved her."

Following the ruling, Miss Clibbery's solicitors said the "landmark" judgment was "a tremendous victory for the freedom of the press".

"This was a David and Goliath battle where Miss Clibbery risked everything to protect her basic human rights freedom of speech and expression," they added.

But Mr Allan, who is abroad, said in a statement that the hearings "could have been avoided if Miss Clibbery had respected my right to privacy and accepted that our relationship was over".

Ivan Allan knows the truth and sooner or later all the truth will come out

Glory Clibbery

And his solicitors said while they were disappointed at the ruling, they were "pleased that the court has upheld our views... that it is only in exceptional cases that information can be shown to the press".

Mr Allan, the Hong Kong-based business associate of Alex Ferguson and friend of Lester Piggott, who also owns a £1.5m house in Newmarket, added that he had spent fewer than 20 days a year with Miss Clibbery.

"I had never once used words of endearment and Miss Clibbery knew that there was no depth to our relationship," he concluded.

But Canadian-born Miss Clibbery replied: "I can prove absolutely otherwise.

"Ivan Allan knows the truth and sooner or later all the truth will come out."