Jeremy Clarkson has lifted an injunction preventing the publication of rumours that he had an affair with his ex-wife, saying that the Twitter free-for-all renders such moves ‘pointless’.
Top Gear presenter Clarkson had asked for an injunction after having an affair with Alexandra Hall, his ex wife. The 51-year-old said he had been sleeping with her behind the back of his current spouse, Frances.
Last year, Hall was given an injunction meaning she could go to jail for talking about her relationship with Clarkson.
Despite the ban on new sources publishing details of the affair, it was already common knowledge to those bothered enough to look online. Twitter was flooded with the news as soon as it was known Clarkson had taken out an injunction.
“Injunctions don’t work. You take out an injunction against somebody or some organisation and immediately news of that injunction and the people involved and the story behind the injunction is in a legal-free world on Twitter and the internet. It’s pointless,” Clarkson told the Daily Mail.
Hall is not the only woman who Clarkson has been accused of having an affair with. Other online rumours – which he has denied – suggested that he cheated on his wife with Top Gear colleague Phillipa Sage and with Jemina Khan.
Clarkson married his wife, Frances, in May 1993 and has three children: Emily, 17, Finlo, 13, and Katya, 10.
He was married to his Hall for a year in 1989 but she is rarely mentioned.
According to reports, Hall left Clarkson when his growing fame got in the way of their marriage.
For those confused about the difference between and injunction and a super-injunction – the latter means that even reporting on the injunction’s existence is not allowed.
Most injunction are not ‘super’, and can therefore be reported, although their subjects cannot be identified.
