Vanessa Perroncel speaks out against injunctions

Amid reports that two England footballers have been granted so-called 'super-injunctions' to prevent the press disclosing details of their private lives, an unlikely character has entered the debate on the side of the journalists.
 
She is Vanessa Perroncel, the model who hit the headlines earlier this year when she was alleged to have had an affair with the then England captain John Terry - an allegation she refutes to this day.

Terry had been awarded a super-injunction against the News of the World to stop the expose of his rumoured relationship with Perroncel, who was the former girlfriend of his fellow England player Wayne Bridge.

The injunction was eventually lifted – and the story came out.
 
Despite being "wronged" by the British press, Perroncel told the Independent on Sunday that the injunction granted to Terry was disproportionate – a simple denial would have sufficed.

She also said that footballers who like to cash in on their high profiles by selling their wedding photos to magazines should not be able to run to the courts when the press coverage doesn't suit them.

"They let the press have really intimate information, like weddings, baptisms and so on," she said. "So why should these people be allowed to cherry pick what the newspapers write about them?

"I know how expensive it is to take out an injunction, and it's not fair that footballers should be allowed to protect themselves because of their money."
 
It emerged last week that two England players are currently being protected from potentially embarrassing stories about their private lives by court injunctions.
 
These injunctions are granted on the judge's interpretation of human rights rules. Newspapers are seeking to have the injunctions waived - Terry's was lifted on the grounds that freedom to discuss moral issues was vital to society – but until then they are unable to name the players involved.
 
French-born Perroncel, 33, said earlier this month that she still hoped  to get back with Wayne Bridge. While she supports the press argument on injunctions, she blames the British media for distorting the public's interest in footballers. "Why do we idolise them so much?" she asked. "They only kick a ball, right?" ·