Celebrity injunction: Man behind privacy order will have to wait to hear if legal challenge is successful

A celebrity will have to wait to find out if a privacy junction protecting him from being named by the press will remain in place after Supreme Court justices reserved their decision.

The Sun on Sunday wants to publish details of the man’s alleged “extramarital activities” after an order preventing them from doing so was overturned by the Court of Appeal. His lawyers are now asking Supreme Court justices to make a decision in the case.

Supreme Court president Lord Neuberger said the court would “take time to consider this matter” and justices would give their decision “as soon as we can”.

The injunction remains in place until a decision is reached.

Lawyers for the Sun on Sunday argue the order should be overturned because the man, named as PJS in court documents, and his spouse have been identified in publications outside of England and Wales, where the order is in place.

But Desmond Browne QC, representing PJS, said lifting the injunction would prompt a flood of reports and draw attention to the couple’s children. “It’s hard to see that the children were afforded the primacy of importance to which they are entitled,” he told justices. “That is an issue not just now but for the future when they grow up.”

Discharging the order would have “devastating consequences”, he warned.

“This case has been hailed by some as the death-knell of the privacy injunction," he later added. "We hope that reports of its death have been greatly exaggerated.”

Additional reporting by Press Association