Topless photos fail to topple pageant winner

A TOP judge has ruled that the woman who stepped down as Miss North Carolina in a topless photos row should keep her crown.

But the runner-up threatened to go to court to be declared the winner.

Rebekah Revels, 24, smiled slightly as Superior Court Judge Narley Cashwell announced his ruling in her favour yesterday. Seated behind her, runner-up Misty Clymer sat silently, her mouth open.

Clymer assumed the title in July when Revels stepped down after Miss America officials received an e-mail about the photos from her former boyfriend, Tosh Welch.

Clymer held the title until last week, when a judge returned it to Revels pending this week’s hearing.

It was not immediately clear whether Revels would be allowed to compete in the Miss America pageant on September 21. She has a separate suit pending against the Miss America pageant. A hearing is scheduled for today.

Immediately after Judge Cashwell’s ruling, Clymer filed a motion to intervene in Revels’ claim and a lawsuit of her own against the state pageant organisation, seeking to keep the title.

Revels testified that her boyfriend surprised her when he snapped two photographs of her three years ago when she was changing clothes.

She has since broken up with Mr Welch and recently sued him.