Background: what about the missing e-mails? | Analysis: a ruling that raises the stakes | What happened at the orgies |

Max Mosley’s lawyers are preparing to bring libel actions that could reap him hundreds of thousands of pounds in damages after winning a privacy claim against the News of the World.

The newspaper accused the Formula One boss – whose father was the 1930s Fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley – of taking part in a “sick Nazi orgy” with five prostitutes.

A High Court judge ruled yesterday that there was no evidence that the sadomasochistic party was an enactment of Nazi behaviour or adoption of any of its attitudes. Awarding Mr Mosley record damages for privacy of £60,000, Mr Justice Eady said: “I see no genuine basis at all for the suggestion that the participants mocked the victims of the Holocaust.

“Anyone indulging in sexual activity is entitled to a degree of privacy – especially if it is on private property and between consenting adults,” he added. It was not for the State or media to expose sexual conduct that did not involve any significant breach of criminal law. “It is not for journalists to undermine human rights, or for judges to refuse to enforce them, merely on grounds of taste or moral disapproval.”

Mr Mosley was in court for the ruling. He said he hoped that his case would deter invasive journalism. His lawyers are looking at bringing libel actions over the Nazi claim. They are likely to focus on the News of the World but could also include actions in France and Germany.

Media commentators welcomed the judge’s decision not to award punitive or exemplary damages.

Colin Myler, the Editor of the News of the World, said that the press was now less free as a result of the ruling. He insisted that the newspaper always believed that what it published was “legitimate and lawful” and “justified by the public interest in exposing Mr Mosley’s serious impropriety”.

The article was published in March. Secretly filmed footage of the orgy on the newspaper’s website attracted 3.5 million hits.The newspaper faces a total costs bill of about £850,000.

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