Jason Deans....
MediaGuardian
Thursday August 19, 2004
Lawyers acting for Rio Ferdinand have today withdrawn their eleventh-hour bid to block a Channel 4 drama-documentary about the sexual activities of football stars, but are threatening to launch a libel action against the broadcaster tomorrow.
Ferdinand's lawyers decided not to pursue their application for an injunction at the high court today, after viewing the footage Channel 4 had claimed featured the Manchester United and England star.
James Price QC, the barrister acting for Ferdinand, said there was no need for an injunction because his client was not actually featured in the footage, although he is mentioned in the accompanying voiceover.
However, lawyers acting for Channel 4 maintained that Ferdinand was featured in the video clip.
Mr Justice Treacy dismissed the application for injunction, which related to less than a minute of footage to be broadcast at the start of tonight's programme.
However, Mr Price said his client would launch a libel action against Channel 4 following transmission of the programme tonight, if it is broadcast in the form in which it was shown to him at the high court.
"I anticipate confidently that when my client watches that footage, he will see he is not in it. Therefore we are not asking for an injunction," he said.
"However, the result will be that there is a libel action tomorrow, based on pre-publicity and based on the broadcast, if it is broadcast in that form," Mr Price added.
Hugh Tomlinson QC, acting on behalf of Channel 4, said that the footage did feature Ferdinand.
"We have the full footage, so we know what was extracted from it," Mr Tomlinson said.
you are joking?
