Holly Willoughby receives four-figure payout from Sunday Sport

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/dec/04/holly-willoughby-sunday-sport-up-skirt-photo

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TV presenter Holly Willoughby has received an apology and a four-figure payment to charity in lieu of damages from the Sunday Sport after it published what her lawyers described as a fake "up the skirt" photo.

Willoughby complained after the Sunday Sport printed a fake photo on its front page under the headline "Holly Willoughby up the skirt photo shock!".

The picture showed a young woman getting out of a taxi with her bottom and underwear visible. The woman in the picture was reputedly wearing a dress made of the same material as one Willoughby wore to an awards ceremony, which was also printed on the same Sunday Sport front page.

Willoughby, who presents shows including This Morning, Surprise Surprise and The Voice, agreed to drop her legal threat against the paper after it printed a front-page apology on November 25.

She said on Tuesday: "I am delighted that the Sunday Sport has on its front page informed its readers that they were misled about the 'up-skirt' picture they published which the paper said was of me, and made a fulsome apology.

"The Sunday Sport also paid me damages along with my legal fees. I am donating my damages to the wonderful charity of which I'm a patron, Together for Short Lives, which at least means that something good has come out of this unpleasant episode."

Willoughby's lawyer, Jonathan Coad of the law firm Lewis Silkin, agreed the settlement in direct negotiations with the Sunday Sport.

Tuesday's settlement means that Willoughby's complaint to the Press Complaints Commission has been resolved.

The Sunday Sport admitted in its front-page apology that "contrary to the clear impression that we give in the edition, no part of the 'up-skirt' photograph was of Holly Willoughby".

It added: "It was an image which had been used to create the illusion that it was of Holly. We therefore apologise unreservedly to Holly for the embarrassment we have caused to her and her family."

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