Four top sportsmen who won injunctions against the British press have been outed as love cheats in the US.
The men include a married Premier League footballer, a club manager said to be embroiled in a sexting scandal, a sportsman alleged to have cheated on his fiancee with a famous celebrity and another who won two super injunctions against The Sun in 2008.
The newspaper first reported that the identities of the men were to be revealed by an unnamed American website on Wednesday at 2pm UK time – but blocking software means Britons will not be able to read it.
The celebrity magazine this afternoon confirmed the Sun's story by naming the four sportsmen.
The revelations are set to be the latest example of British gagging orders being rendered toothless outside of the country's borders.
It comes a fortnight after Supreme Court judges ruled the couple at the centre of the celebrity threesome injunction will remain anonymous.
The man and his A-list partner, identified in court hearings only as PJS and YMA, asked the Supreme Court to consider the case after losing a fight in the Court of Appeal.
While the injunction prevents the press in England and Wales from naming the applicants, publications anywhere else in the world can, leading some media outlets to claim "the law is an ass."
The man is also said to have attempted to have used online sleuths to track down tweets naming him and his spouse. According to reports, those identified as naming the couple in relation to the injunction have been sent a threatening email by Twitter.
Thousands of Twitter users are said to have received the warning, even in countries not covered by the gagging order.
Just a week ago a world-famous singer who allegedly sexually harassed his hairdresser was reportedly named in the US – though once again the British press was gagged from naming him.
The star, known only as RA in court documents, obtained a gagging order forbidding the publication of his identity.
And last month the identity of a married actor who reportedly had sex with former prostitute Helen Wood was revealed by US media and on Twitter.
It’s alleged that the married actor paid for sex with Wood, 30, the former escort who once claimed she had an affair with England footballer Wayne Rooney, while his wife Coleen was pregnant with their first child.
The “family man” was named by US media and on social media, yet the British media remain prohibited from revealing the A-lister’s identity.