Snappers banned from Nicole's mansion after 'bugging'

Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman won temporary restraining orders today against two freelance photographers accused of bugging her Sydney mansion.

The Hours star filed an application with the Waverly Local Court to issue the restraining orders against Jamie Fawcett, 43, and Ben McDonald, 32, after her security guards allegedly discovered a listening device earlier this week outside her residence in Sydney, where filming on Kidman’s latest movie, Eucalyptus, has started.

Photographers have been staking out the superstar’s house since she arrived in Sydney on Sunday to begin filming a new movie.

Kidman and the photographers were not in court for the hearing.

Magistrate Lee Gilmore ordered the photographers not to approach the Australian-born actress at her home, or go within 66 feet of her house.

The restraining orders will remain in place until at least February 11, when the case returns to court.

Security guards performing a routine search of the property before Kidman’s arrival allegedly discovered the bug, which they said could have been used to glean details of her movements and help the paparazzi get pictures of the star.

Kidman’s chief bodyguard Neil McMaster said on Monday that surveillance footage taken from the house showed that the bug had been intentionally planted by someone seeking to intercept conversations between Kidman and her bodyguards.

Graham Walsh, a lawyer for McDonald, told the court that his client “absolutely denies emphatically he has anything to do with planting any listening device anywhere near Miss Kidman’s home”.

Roland Day, representing Fawcett, also denied the allegations and said his client was merely doing his job.

Gilmore said she understood the two men were entitled to make a living as photographers.

“It’s all a matter of degree,” she told the court. “As Miss Kidman says, she’s willing to put up with some (of) it but it’s gone beyond that.”