Internationally famous man granted anonymity amid investigation into ‘serious sexual offences’

A man who has been described as ‘internationally famous’ has won a bid for anonymity against the BBC amid serious allegations.

The temporary anonymity bid was passed in the High Court on Thursday ahead of a BBC broadcast that was due to air about the well-known man. The public figure is under investigation for several serious sexual offence claims made by several women against him. In a judgement on Thursday, Mrs Justice Collins Rice said the man applied for an interim injunction that would prevent the broadcaster from naming him in an investigative piece. The man is bringing legal action against the BBC and asked for an injunction to prevent him from being identified, according to the Mirror. The court in London heard that this is an internationally famous man who is under active criminal investigation for multiple allegations of sexual offences. Mrs Justice Collins Rice said: "The relationship between the allegations and the investigation is not simple. "The claimant has been arrested but not (yet) charged in relation to two allegations. "He has been interviewed in relation to a third allegation. A decision appears to have been made not to investigate further a fourth allegation. "And further allegations have not (yet) been notified formally to the police. All the allegations are of a similar nature." It is understood that the man’s bid for this injunction was challenged by the BBC, and speaking about the broadcaster Mrs Justice Collins Rice said: "Its evidence is that the proposed reports will state that the BBC has found that at least a quarter of businesses in the sector in which the claimant works have had employees investigated by the police for serious sexual offences. "Yet despite this, the sector does not have any policies or procedures for employees who are accused of violence against women, nor any consistency of approach to allegations. "They will explain that the claimant has been investigated by the police and arrested in respect of the allegations since it is important to explain that his employer knows that this is the position and has taken no action. "However the involvement of the police would not be the focus of the reports." Granting the anonyity request, Mrs Justice Collins Rice concluded: "I am satisfied it creates a substantial risk of impeding or prejudicing the necessary efforts to ensure that all the evidence, and only the evidence, properly forensically relevant to the trial of any criminal charges brought will be available to a jury," she said.

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