Douglases seeking £600,000 in photos battle

Catherine Zeta Jones and husband Michael Douglas asked for another £100,000 (€142,300) today on top of the £500,000 (€711,700) damages they want from the celebrity magazine which published unauthorised photographs of their wedding.

The extra sum would compensate them for the personal distress they suffered after the paparazzi invaded their wedding, their lawyer told a British High Court judge.

Alastair Wilson QC, representing the Hollywood golden couple, was opening the second phase of the legal battle against Hello! magazine which published the snatched pictures of the New York ceremony in November 2000.

He told Mr Justice Lindsay that the Douglases were entitled to damages not only for the damage caused to their commercial rights – they had signed a £1m (€1.42m) exclusive deal with celebrity magazine OK! – but also for the real personal distress they had suffered.

“This is rather like a burglary when possessions are stolen and the value gone and at the same time you feel a sense of personal invasion of privacy.

“This is a real distress quite separate from the value of possessions which have also disappeared.”

The Douglases claimed victory when Mr Justice Lindsay ruled in April that Hello! had breached their rights of confidence.

It is now up to the same judge to decide what damages Hello! must pay to the couple and to OK!.