Max Mosley wins French case against News of the World

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A French court has found the News of the World guilty of breaching the privacy of Max Mosley , who sued the now-defunct tabloid in France over the publication of photographs of him with prostitutes.

The 71-year-old former motorsport chief successfully sued the tabloid over the story in the UK in 2008 , winning £60,000 in damages, and went on to take the case to France, which has strict privacy laws.

He was able to as a result of 3,000 copies of the edition being distributed in the country.

News Corporation, international owner of News Group Newspapers, was fined €10,000 (£8,600) by the French court, and forced to pay £6,000 in damages to Mosley. A further £13,700 was levied against the publisher in court charges.

The award was substantially less than the reported £170,000 Mosley was seeking from the publisher.

The News of the World published several photographs and a video of Mosley with the prostitutes and claimed he was taking part in a "Nazi-style orgy". Mosley denied that there was a Nazi theme.

It was revealed in October that Mosley was helping bankroll civil phone-hacking cases against the News of the World, including John Prescott's.

Mosley reportedly pledged a total of £3 million to Prescott and up to ten others pursuing legal action against publisher News International.

In September the former motorsport chief failed to win the right to appeal a European Court of Human Rights decision rejecting his bid to have prior notification added to the human rights act. Mosley was calling for UK newspapers to be forced to give advanced notice to people whose privacy might be invaded by stories.

News of the World publisher News International was unavailable for comment at the time of writing.