Privacy of Ryan and Stacey Giggs and children must be protected, judge rules
The private lives of Ryan Giggs, his estranged wife Stacey and their two children must be protected as a divorce court money battle unfolds, a judge says.
Mr Justice Cobb, who is overseeing the case at hearings in the Family Division of the High Court in London, says reporters should be able to attend hearings but not members of the public.
He also says limits should be placed on what journalists can reveal.
The judge says the public should not be given detail of private financial information and he says the names of the estranged couple's children should not be revealed in reports of the case.
He has outlined his thoughts in a written ruling on how the case should be reported.
"The husband was a professional footballer," said Mr Justice Cobb.
"He has a number of business interests, and has (had) a role in coaching and management.
"He played football nationally and internationally for many years, and has a high media profile.
"He is now 43 years of age.
"His marriage to the wife came to an end last year.
"The husband and wife have two children.
"This information is well known to the public at large."
He added: "This couple have a significant profile in the media, both nationally and internationally.
"That they are divorcing, and that their financial remedy proceedings are being pursued in the English courts, are pieces of information already in the public domain, and the publication of that information cannot legitimately be restrained by order."
But he said it was "appropriate" for hearings be to be staged in private.
He said that would mean journalists could attend but not members of the public.
But he said journalists should not be allowed to publish financial information aired at hearings and should not be allowed to name the children in reports.
"I do not consider that there is a sufficient public interest in laying bare for inspection in the press the parties' financial circumstances or the plans for their financial futures," said Mr Justice Cobb.
"Insofar as there is such a public interest in the media having access to that information, it is significantly outweighed by the rights which the parties, and their children, possess to privacy in these circumstances."
Giggs had asked the judge to sit in private and impose limitations on what could be reported.
The footballer had initially wanted journalists excluded from hearings but subsequently changed his mind.
The Giggs case has come into court at a time when two senior specialist judges are at odds over how much the public should be told about people involved in big-money divorce battles.
Mr Justice Holman, who analyses cash fights between separated couples at public hearings, says there is a pressing need for more openness.
But Mr Justice Mostyn says such disputes are ''quintessentially private business'' and should be staged in private.
Both judges, like Mr Justice Cobb, sit in the Family Division of the High Court - where big money divorce fights are heard - and are based at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.
They have both outlined their views in rulings on cases.
