The injunction was granted under the Prevention from Harassment Act 1997 against “Person or Persons Responsible for taking Photographs of the Claimants outside their home and in the Street during November 2011”.
The factual background set out in the judgment reminds us that despite the efforts of the PCC – and the press being on “best behaviour” during the Leveson Inquiry – press harassment is not a thing of the past. Ms Hong was followed and photographed without her knowledge in January 2011. The “News of the World” published a photograph on 24 April 2011 – two days after Mr Grant had been told that his telephone had been hacked. Ms Hong was subsequently followed and photographed without consent.
In July 2011, after Mr Grant appeared on Question Time talking about phone hacking Ms Hong received telephone calls of an abusive nature. Ultimately she changed her mobile number. In November 2011 the “Daily Mail” published stories about Mr Grant and Ms Hong having had a daughter. After that the harassment and intimidation reached what were plainly unbearable levels:
“On some afternoons in the last few days there have been ten or more people outside her house. On some evenings they have not left, but stayed all night, including when it was raining. She and her neighbours have been kept up by the flashing of cameras” [11].
A number of incidents of harassment and intimidation are described in the judgment. Although the PCC circulated a warning to editors, a number of photographers persisted in their activities.
In the circumstances, the judge decided that it was “necessary and proportionate” to grant the injunction sought.
Comment
The harassment of individuals in the news by “paparazzi photographers” is a longstanding problem which, as this judgment illustrates, has not been solved by the PCC’s “24 hour anti-harassment service“. Although many newspapers promised to stop using paparazzi photographs after the death of Princess Diana, in practice the tabolid newspapers have largely continued as before. The victims tend to be young women who are relentlessly pursued – often on cars and motorbikes by packs of photographers.
Many are freelance and therefore cannot, strictly speaking, be ordered to stop by the press. The only effective remedy in such situations is an “anti-harassment” injunction directed at “persons unknown” and designed to cover all the photographers pursuing a particular individual. One was obtained earlier in the year by singer Cheryl Cole – following precedents set by Sienna Miller and Lily Allen.
A particularly disturbing aspect of this case is the suggestion that Hugh Grant is being victimised because of his prominent role in the “Hacked Off” campaign. We had a post on this at the time and it appears to have led to Lord Justice Leveson’s warning to the press at the outset of his Inquiry.