Partner of Chris Huhne in privacy case appeal bid

Published on 30/06/2012 02:15

MP CHRIS Huhne’s partner, Carina Trimingham, has launched a bid to appeal against a High Court judge’s rejection of her privacy and harassment claim against Associated Newspapers.

Her lawyer, Charlotte Harris, a partner with law firm Mishcon de Reya, confirmed yesterday that Ms Trimingham’s legal team had filed an application for permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal. The case is listed to be dealt with at some time between mid-August and late October.

Ms Trimingham sued Associated Newspapers over a series of stories in the Daily Mail, claiming they amounted to a breach of her right to privacy and harassment under the Protection from Harassment Act.

Her affair with Mr Huhne, the former secretary of state for energy and climate change, became public in June 2010 and he left his wife of 26 years. Ms Trimingham, a 44-year-old PR adviser, sought compensation and an injunction over 65 “highly unpleasant and hurtful” articles which had appeared since then.

Her lawyers told Mr Justice Tugendhat at the High Court that articles in the Daily Mail constituted a “cataclysmic interference” with her private life.

Associated Newspapers argued that there was an important public interest in the stories.

Mr Justice Tugendhat rejected Ms Trimingham’s claim, saying she was not the “purely private figure she claims to be”.