Sir Fred lover denies link

THE former mistress of Sir Fred Goodwin has denied her affair had any link to the Royal Bank of Scotland crisis, her lawyer insisted.

The woman cannot be named due to a legal ruling which was challenged at the High Court in London yesterday, with lawyers for News Group Newspapers claiming: "If she was having an affair with the chief executive of the company then a conflict of interest arises."

Her lawyer insisted there was no evidence the relationship had anything to do with the collapse of the Royal Bank of Scotland, and said there was no public interest in revealing the woman's name.

The judge reserved judgement until a later date.