In overturning a first instance decision to strike out a claim for breach of privacy brought on behalf of JK Rowling’s son, the Court of Appeal has effectively carved out a new right of privacy for children. The decision is likely to cause editors of tabloid newspapers and celebrity magazines considerable headaches, but they should perhaps be thankful that it did not go any further.
David Murray v Big Pictures (UK) Limited was a case brought by Neil and Joanne Murray (as litigation friends) in June 2005 on behalf of their then two-year-old son, David. Mrs Murray is better known to the world as JK Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter books. The case involved photographs of David that were taken by a paparazzo photographer working for BPL in November 2004, one of which was published in the Sunday Express magazine on 3 April, 2005. The photographs showed David being pushed in his buggy down an Edinburgh street by his parents.
