Big Brother contestant wins damages over sex slurs

London, Mar 14: A former Big Brother contestant won ''substantial'' damages over newspaper articles that falsely said she had had sex with more than 100 men and made other salacious allegations.

Lesley Sanderson, who appeared in the sixth series of the show in 2005, had sued the Daily Star Sunday tabloid over two stories the paper had printed about her.

Her lawyer Michelle French told the High Court that the paper's first story in May 2005, headlined ''Lesley's a Ton of Fun'', had made numerous false allegations about Sanderson, a sales coordinator from Huddersfield.

''It falsely alleged that Lesley Sanderson had over 100 sexual partners, became pregnant at the age of 15 and offered sexual favours to boys at school,'' she said.

French said a second article on June 12, under the headline ''Her Dad Caught us on the Job'', said she had had sex in a car with a man who was teaching her to drive.

''All the allegations in both articles are totally untrue. The articles were devastating for Lesley Sanderson,'' French said.

''They caused her great distress and embarrassment and she felt humiliated and upset knowing that they would be read by her friends and her family.'' French said the paper had agreed to pay substantial but undisclosed damages.

''The defendant apologises to Lesley Sanderson for the distress its article has caused her,'' the Star's lawyer Stephen Bacon told the court yesterday.

Sanderson lasted 15 days in the Big Brother house, becoming the second contestant to be evicted on June 10.

Reuters