Ben Stokes and his mother to sue The Sun over a story about the cricketer's tragic family past

Ben Stokes and his mother are taking legal action against The Sun. Photo / Getty Images

Ben Stokes and his mother are suing The Sun over a story about the cricketer's tragic family past.

The England all-rounder said the newspaper had published "extremely painful, sensitive and personal details" about his family last month.

He condemned the report as "utterly disgusting".

Proceedings at the High Court were filed on September 30, according to Byline Investigates, on News Group Newspapers (NGN) - the Sun's parent company.

The case is listed as an intellectual property claim related to copyright.

A representative of the Sun declined to comment.

The front-page story on September 17 concerned a family tragedy involving the 28-year-old's mother, Deborah Stokes, some 31 years ago.

In a post on Twitter - which received thousands of retweets, likes and supportive comments - Stokes said a reporter had turned up at his parents' home in New Zealand "out of the blue" to ask them about the tragedy.

The Sun said it had contacted Stokes before printing the article and "at no stage did he or his representatives ask us not to publish the story".

It reported in its story that the couple and the cricketer had declined to comment.

The case comes after Prince Harry announced legal action against the publisher of the Sun and and the Daily Mirror newspapers over alleged phone hacking.

Meghan Markle is suing the Mail on Sunday after it published parts of a personal letter written by her to her father Thomas Markle about the breakdown of their relationship.