Mosley had the right to enjoy S&M in private

It could have been an awful lot worse for the News of the World. Max Mosley and his legal team were asking for punitive, exemplary damages which could have run to millions. For that to have succeeded, Mr Justice Eady would have had to find that the newspaper printed its story about the motorsport chief's S&M 'orgy', with all its embellishments, knowing it not to be true.

In the event, Judge Eady awarded Mosley £60,000 in compensatory damages in his breach of privacy action against the newspaper as well as £200,000 in costs. As is so often the case with News of the World reports, the story was part true, and this probably saved the paper from the much more serious penalty Mosley sought.

Those listening to the News of the World reporter Neville Thurlbeck giving evidence earlier this month left the court in no doubt