Big Brother 4's Lisa loses libel case

The High Court has thrown out a libel action brought by Big Brother 4 housemate Lisa Jeynes, who claimed she'd been portrayed as a man posing as a woman. The 38-year-old, from the reality show's 2003 series, had sued over publications on the cover of Love it! magazine and in the News of the World, in May last year. Her complaint focused on the words, "BB's Lisa 'the geezer'. My fake boobs fell out on date with James Hewitt!", saying the innuendo, against a background of rumours there was to be a transsexual contestant in BB4, was that she was a man posing as a woman, a transgender or transsexual. The shop manager-turned-model was seeking compensation of up to Ã‚Â£150,000, but now faces paying costs of Ã‚Â£6,750. Mr Justice Eady imposed no time limit on the payment after her counsel, Adrian Davies, said she had suffered a 'serious accident'. She was modelling when an overhead light fell and she was struck in the face by a power cable. Alexandra Marzec, counsel for News Magazines Ltd and News Group Newspapers, who denied libel, had argued that the words complained of, taken in their proper context, couldn't bear the Big Brother contestant's 'far-fetched' meaning and should be struck out. She said if rumours about a transsexual contestant were around in 2003 they had no factual basis and weren't in circulation three years later. The judge ruled that no reasonable reader could conclude the words complained of bore the meaning alleged.

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