Daily Star Pays Beckham Damages
The Daily Star has paid former England football captain David Beckham substantial undisclosed damages after falsely claiming that he ‘made a play’ for Hungarian model Mariann Fogarasy.
Richard Desmond’s Express Newspapers tabloid retracted its allegations and paid Beckham a substantial sum in damages together with his legal costs. The paper also agreed not to repeat the allegations.
On 30th April the Daily Star ran a front-page story headlined ‘Becks & The Blonde Beauty’. On pages four and five the headline read ‘Topless model claims she was chatted up by footie star’.
The article claimed that the former England captain ‘made a play’ for Fogarasy after a recent AC Milan match in Hungary.
Beckham’s lawyer Gerrard Tyrrell, from Harbottle & Lewis, told the high court that ‘the allegations were false and defamatory’.
The Daily Star’s lawyer, Kate Wilson, added: ‘The defendant acknowledges that the allegations made against Mr Beckham are untrue and are happy to give the undertaking referred to above. The defendant apologises to Mr Beckham and his family for the distress, embarrassment and injury caused to him.’
