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The News of the World has republished a video on its website of Max Mosley , despite attempts by the formula one boss to have the footage removed.

Mosley, who is alleged to have participated in a Nazi-style orgy, applied to the High Court on Friday for an injunction banning the newspaper from showing the video or using images of the incident in the paper.

His application was refused prompting a fighting statement from the paper's legal manager Tom Crone, which said Mosley's attempts to 'suppress' the video had 'failed'.

"As the judge acknowledged, he was able to see only 'very brief extracts' - less than two minutes - of the very much longer video. Had he seen it in its entirety, we are confident that he could not fail to recognise the Nazi connotation which Mr Mosley so strenuously denies," said Crone.

In his judgement Justice Eady said the footage was too widely available on other websites for an injunction against the News of the World to have a significant effect.

"The dam has effectively burst.  I have, with some reluctance, come to the conclusion that although this material is intrusive and demeaning, and despite the fact that there is no legitimate public interest in its further publication, the granting of an order against this Respondent [News of the World] at the present juncture would merely be a futile gesture," he said.

Evidence submitted to the court said the video clip was viewed 1,424,959 times between March 30, when it was originally published, and March 31, when it was removed from the paper's site. The figure includes views of the footage on other websites, which had embedded the paper's clip.

On its website at the weekend the paper said it had removed the clip 'pending a decision, which is expected next week' and that Mosley was suing the paper for breach of privacy.

"Given Mr Mosley's denials as to what we say our film depicts, we are surprised he seeks to stop us giving the public a chance to make up their own minds," said Crone in the article.

In today's statement Crone said Mosley needed to answer the following questions:

  • "Why are German military uniforms worn?
  • "Why does he issue orders and threats in German to women who cannot speak German?
  • "Why does he deliver and count out beatings in German to women who cannot understand German?
  • "Why does he put on a German accent when speaking English?
  • "Why are the victims of these beatings in German made to put on sinister striped uniforms?
  • "Why the head lice inspections, the forced shaving of body hair and the sinister references to inmates being housed in 'facilities'?"

The video entitled 'Max Mosley in 5 vice girl Nazi orgy', which was put back on the paper's website shortly after this morning's hearing, generated a host of news stories for the paper as it sparked calls for Mosley's resignation and a follow-up from an expert in Nazi psychology .

The paper also ran a transcript of the video and sent the tape to the FIA Senate - the governing body of motor racing.

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Written by

Laura Oliver
Laura Oliver
Laura Oliver is a freelance journalist, a contributor to the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, co-founder of The Society of Freelance Journalists and the former editor of Journalism.co.uk (prior to it becoming JournalismUK)

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