Success for Schillings as Kate Winslet's husband blocks Sun images

RocknRoll, a nephew of Richard Branson whose given name was Abel Smith, turned to Schillings partner Jenny Afia and David Sherborne QC of 5RB for the London hearing, which asked Mr Justice Briggs to ban the publication of “embarrassing” photographs taken of the 34-year-old at a private party.

The Sun publisher News Group Newspapers (NGN) instructed Simons Muirhead & Burton partner Louis Charalambous and Desmond Browne QC of 5RB to block the injunction.

The tabloid reportedly argued that RocknRoll, an employee of Virgin Galactic according to his Linkedin page, had “propelled” himself into the position of public figure since marrying the Titanic actress late last year.

Defending RocknRoll, Sherborne argued that the images, which are understood to show the businessman semi-naked, were not taken in the public domain and would therefore be a breach of privacy if printed.

While the judge ruled in RocknRoll’s favour details of the decision are not expected to be announced until a later date.

Simons Muirhead and Schillings have worked against each other on a number of high-profile privacy cases in the last year, including a privacy bid over a The Sun on Sunday front page regarding former England manager Steve McClaren’s alleged affair (12 August 2012). McClaren instruct Schillings partner John Kelly and NGN turn to Charalambous.

The firms also went head-to-head over the publication of a story about footballer Ryan Giggs, with Charalambous again acting for NGN and Schillings partner Gideon Benaim, who has since joined Michael Simkins, acting for Giggs.