Soccer: S&M fan Mosley backs England captain

Max Mosley, former motor racing boss. Photo / Getty Images

Max Mosley, the former motor racing boss who won £60,000 damages after his privacy was invaded by the News of the World, said that the England captain, John Terry, should have been protected by law from having his extramarital affairs exposed.

Mosley, who in 2008 was filmed engaging in a sado-masochistic session with five prostitutes, is going to the European Court of Human Rights to apply for a ruling that any newspaper planning to publish a story about someone's private life should be compelled to forewarn them.

"They go to endless lengths to stop the victim finding out it's going to happen," Mosley said, adding, the general gagging order obtained by Terry, which was subsequently overruled, would not have been necessary if the News of the World had been obliged to tell him what it planned to publish. He could then have sought an injunction against the newspaper.

Mosley argued that, with rare exceptions, all details of people's sex lives should be protected by privacy law: "I cannot see why there is any real public interest in knowing whether John Terry has had an affair with somebody, and if so, with whom."

Referring to his own court battle, Mosley said: "I didn't deny what had happened, that we were having what I call a party, but on the other hand it was nobody's business but mine and the five ladies involved."

- INDEPENDENT