Jeremy Clarkson voluntarily lifted an injunction that barred the media from reporting claims by his first wife, Alexandra Hall, about an affair during his second marriage. The Clarkson's Farm star, now 66, took out the injunction in 2010, but by 2011 he decided to remove the gagging order himself.
Why Clarkson lifted the gagging order
The injunction had prohibited reporting of "sexual or other intimate acts or dealings" between Clarkson and Hall, along with details about his "private thoughts and feelings, his health and other financial affairs". Clarkson told the Daily Mail that "injunctions don't work".
He said at the time: "You take out an injunction against somebody or some organisation and immediately news of that injunction and the people involved and the story behind the injunction is in a legal-free world on Twitter and the internet. It's pointless."
Cost and legal pressures
Clarkson explained that injunctions had become less effective and more costly: "You used to be able to take out an injunction and then just sit on it. But as a result of a recent court case you are now ultimately forced by the courts to go to trial – which is unbelievably expensive."
He said Hall was free to tell her story, adding that "people can either believe it or not, it's up to them".
Hall's response to the injunction
Speaking in 2012, Hall said she was "terrified" by the injunction, telling MPs and peers at Parliament's Joint Committee on Privacy and Injunctions that she never intended to spread "salacious" details, and instead wanted to write "a sort of witty self-help book".
She said: "There wasn't anything detrimental that could hurt his career. In fact it was going to be quite nice and favourable. He didn't want any acknowledgement that he had an ex-wife, I don't think. I think he was worried about his relationship with his current wife, knowing that I still had an association with him that he wasn't being completely honest about."
Hall added: "The fact that we had a relationship from the age of 17 to 26 is public knowledge... the whole point of it is that it's had a massive impact on my life because he's become famous."
She described receiving a text message telling her to check her e-mail because an injunction had been issued against her. "I had no idea what to do with this injunction. It was terrifying," she said. "I couldn't work. I had to give up working to deal with the injunction... I didn't have time to work and deal with the injunction. It became a full-time job for three months putting all the information together. I think you could hear the tremble in my voice for months. Whenever I spoke to someone about it I was always close to tears. I was totally frightened. I was out of my league, out of my depth."
