MailOnline apologises and pays substantial damages to Sand Van Roy for revealing her rape complaint against French film director MailOnline has today apologised in the High Court to Sand Van Roy (the Dutch-Belgian actor and former comedian) over revealing her identity as a complainant in a rape case against a French film director (allegations which the individual strongly denies), together with publishing false details about her complaint.
MailOnline has also agreed to pay Ms Van Roy substantial damages, as well as her legal costs.
As MailOnline has accepted, the publication of Ms Van Roy’s identity as a complainant in a rape case and of the other (actual and purported) private information caused Ms Van Roy enormous distress.
In recognition of the falsity, and gravity, of the information published, MailOnline’s publisher Associated Newspapers joined in a Statement in Open Court today before Mr Justice Murray (a copy of which is enclosed), expressing a full apology to Ms Van Roy. A full apology has also been published on MailOnline (see here).
Ms Van Roy commented:
“The distress I suffered as a result of the publication of my identity as a complainant in a rape case cannot be overstated. I had always intended to remain anonymous in my complaint, and to have that choice taken away from me so soon after the event was almost too much to bear. To this day, many people still believe that I chose to go public myself.
I am pleased that MailOnline has apologised, that this distressing matter has now been brought to a successful conclusion and that the record has been set straight. I would like to thank my legal team for their support in this matter.”
Sand Van Roy was represented by Nigel Tait, Helena Shipman and Katherine Hooley.