Former celebrity couple, Liz Hurley and Hugh Grant and Liz’s new husband, Arun Nayar, today accepted a public apology and £58,000 damages at London’s High Court after covert photographs taken of them holidaying together at a secluded resort were published in the News of the world and the Mail on Sunday.
The actor’s and international businessman, Nayar, will receive equal shares of the £58,000 which are to be paid by photo agencies, Big Pictures UK Ltd, and France based Eliot Press with contributions also to be paid by Associated Newspapers and News Group Newspapers.
The trio sued after photographs were taken covertly whilst they were on holiday in a private resort in the Maldives.
Laura Tyler, solicitor for the three told Mr Justice David Eady : ‘The claimants had chosen the resort for the complete privacy and seclusion which it offered.”
However, she said that the photographs were published in issues of the News of the World and the Mail on Sunday on 28 October 2007.
The Mail on Sunday’s article was headlined ‘Hugh’s that gooseberry?’ while the News of the World’s was headlined ‘Liz does the blokey-cokey’.
Tyler said: ‘It has been most upsetting for the claimants to have their privacy invaded by these defendants. The defendants have accepted that the photographs should not have been taken and that their actions invaded the claimants’ privacy.’
Matthew Nicklin, for the photographic agencies, added : ‘Through me the defendants offer their apologies to the claimants for any distress which they may have caused.”
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