Max Mosley says he is delighted with his victory in a High Court case against the
News of the World over its story accusing him of being involved in a 'Nazi-themed sex orgy' with five prostitutes earlier this year.
The
FIA president was seeking 'exemplary' damages over the story after taking legal action against the 'paper for a breach of privacy having always denied that there were any Nazi connotations to the incident.
The defence put forward by the
News of the World collapsed last week when the prostitute who filmed the events and sold her story – known only as Woman E – failed to appear in court, with the other four women involved stating that there had been no Nazi involvement. The editor of the 'paper then revealed that there had been no translation of the German spoken on the video obtained by the
News of the World before the story was published.
As a result, Mr Justice Eady ruled in favour of Mosley and stated that there was "no evidence that the gathering on 28 March 2008 was intended to be an enactment of Nazi behaviour or adoption of any of its attitudes. Nor was it in fact. I see no genuine basis at all for the suggestion that the participants mocked the victims of the Holocaust".
Although he failed to award the damages Mosley had sought, Mr Justice Eady order the
New of the World to pay £60,000 in damages for the invasion of privacy, with the money being handed to the FIA Foundation to go towards its work in improving road safety and the environment.
In a statement issued by his legal team, Mosley said he was delighted with the ruling and said he hoped it would deter newspapers from running similar stories in future.
