Mosley plans further legal action

FORMULA ONE boss Max Mosley said yesterday he intended to sue the News of the World for libel after he won a record £60,000 in privacy damages against the newspaper.

Mr Mosley said he also planned to take legal action against media organisations in France, Germany and Italy which published photographs or images without his consent.

“I am the victim of an unlawful act by someone else in the same way as I would be if I was mugged,” he told the Sunday Telegraph.

High Court judge Mr Justice Eady awarded Mr Mosley £60,000 on Thursday for the “probably unprecedented” distress and indignity he suffered over the News of the World’s “sick Nazi orgy” story.

Mr Mosley, president of the FIA (Federation Internationale de l’Automobile), said the role-play at a rented Chelsea basement was harmless, consensual and private, with no Nazi overtones.

Mr Mosley said he was considering setting up a legal fund to help other people who felt newspapers had breached their privacy.

“I feel very strongly that some newspapers literally ruin people’s lives and more has to be done to stop this.”

As well as the £60,000 damages, the News of the World also faces a total costs bill of about £850,000.

Mr Justice Eady refused to order punitive exemplary damages against News Group Newspapers, which would have been a first for a privacy case.