Audio Version: WLM 18 – Der Peitsche
With sound effects and some good music
It was 8.30 on Saturday morning when George had a phonecall from a friend of his. Mr ‘X’, as he prefers to be known, had been telephoned by a journalist from a Sunday tabloid to ask if he, Mr ‘X’, thought it was in the public interest for his “credit-crunch” themed SM orgy, filmed secretly by “Ms ‘W’ on Thursday, should be published in the Sunday edition of the newspaper. The journalist described the hidden camera footage the newspaper had. Mr ‘X’, a respected director of a London estate agency, slammed the phone down on the journalist and, in a state of panic, called George.
Ring…Ring…Ring…Ring
George: Hi…what you up to?
Mr ‘X’: I’m about to be outed by a Sunday newspaper….
George: Excellent…..
Mr ‘X’: No… it’s not bloody excellent… I’ve been filmed at an orgy… S&M…
George: Even better… tell me more…
Mr ‘X’ took George through the story. On Thursday afternoon, Mr ‘X’ had visited a professional dominatrix… Ms W.
Mr ‘X’ explained the ‘scenario’ to George. Mr ‘X’ had arranged for the dominatrix, Ms W, to invite two of her friends in ‘the scene’ to attend. The scenario was “Crime and Punishment”. The film had shown Mr X being ordered to strip naked by three women dressed like bank managers. The video footage went on to show Ms W, an attractive blonde dressed in a navy blue skirt suit, complete with an identity badge on her jacket lapel with the logo of a bank and marketing strapline “We’ll whip your finances into shape”, shouting at Mr ‘X’ in a faux Birmingham accent.
Ms W shouted.. “I want you to read those files and tell me why you thought these clients of yours were suitable for mortgage applications to this bank.” The film then cut to a naked Mr ‘X’ saying… “They are not suitable, Madam Bank Manager. I erred, Madam Bank Manager. They had no prospect whatsoever of paying off their mortgage. We were being greedy, Madam Bank Manager. I have sinned… punish me”.
The video was a bit fuzzy at this point, but, nevertheless, showed Ms W putting on a judicial wig and black dressing gown; the latter as it transpires, purchased by Mr ‘X’ from M&S for the occasion. Ms W provided the judicial wig from her ‘dressing up’ box; a gift from a grateful client of hers who had, in his day, served in a minor judicial capacity. There followed a short passage where Ms W sentenced Mr ‘X’ for his crimes against West London society.
A transcript of this footage reveals the following dialogue:
“You have been a very naughty estate agent and you are now going to pay for your crimes against this bank. You will be taken from here and be strapped to a B&Q workbench and your bottom will be caned until it is very pink and you repent of your sins.”
Discretion requires that we draw a veil over this very private performance of Le Vice Anglais and English haut-culture…. save to say that Mr ‘X’ was caned by each of the three women dressed as high street bank managers. While no Bank has complained, nor been informed, about this footage… nor has there been any FSA or Bank of England interest, Mr ‘X’ is worried that publication of the film may well prejudice his reputation as a ‘hard closer’ and prejudice his chain of estate agencies in an already depressed housing market. George telephones his City lawyer friend Hugo, who calls a friend of his, a specialist in libel and privacy law, who in turn arranges for Mr ‘X’ to have an immediate consultation with Ralph Gomorrah QC, one of the most famous barristers in the country, whose earnings were not reported in The Times today…. (£1.175m, exluding VAT)
***
Gomorrah QC: Good. Well… let me say at once that I see every prospect of success here. As you know, there is a famous case going through the courts at this very moment… the case of Max Mosley. We don’t know the result yet, but Mr Justice Eady is not known for his empathy with the press and has form when it comes to issues of privacy. The problem we have is that there is no right to privacy in England & Wales. Lest you wonder if you may have been better off carrying out these erotic entertainments of yours in Scotland, I am not able to comment on (a) what they get up to in Scotland, apart from deep frying Mars bars and other exotic foods, and (b) they have a separate legal system.
Mr ‘X’: I wasn’t in Scotland.
Gomorrah QC: Good… just as well. I would not have been able to act for you if you had been. Be that as it may… the essence of the case is this: It is a balance between your rights as a private individual to enjoy your leisure time and engage in sexual acts without interference or unwarranted intrusion and the right of the public to know that those who are in the public eye, in positions of responsibility, are not all off their heads and engaging in activities likely to harm the interests of, inter alia, (a) The fabric of the British nation, (b) to put god fearing members of the British public in fear of harm and corruption to themselves and (c) and this is the difficult one… activities of concern to HM Government likely to pervert… sorry… divert… the attention of the state from interfering in the lives of the citizens of the United Kingdom and good governance etc etc. The law is complex. You will appreciate this. This is why, I’m afraid, our expertise comes at a high price.
Mr ‘X’: Don’t worry about the money
Gomorrah QC: Thank you, I won’t. There is, as it happens, an interesting article in The Times tomorrow (Max Mosley case: bend over, free speech, this is going to hurt), curiously, available on Pageflakes today, where the received wisdom is that Mr Justice Eady in the Mosley case may well come down in favour of Mosley and extend the right of privacy law. We will not know until Monday… but I have every confidence, given that this tabloid alerted you in advance to publication…and they do not always do this… that we can get an injunction, buy some time, and even prevent the newspaper from mentioning that they are subject to an injunction and see what the lie of the land is when Eady J pronounces. You will, therefore, have an opportunity to visit these wonderful Inns of Court and me again. How does that sound?
Mr ‘X’: Sounds good… may I have another..?
Gomorrah QC: Another what?
Mr ‘X’: Another consultation.
Ralph Gomorrah QC relaxed, clearly relieved that Mr ‘X’ was asking for another consultation and not something else.
***
Audio Version: WLM 18 – Der Peitsche
With sound effects and some good music
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Tonight I am talking to Ms Robinson, the author of the Woman of Experience blog. I am not entirely sure if this podcast should be in my ‘podcast’ series’ or be one of my “Charon After Dark” podcasts. What I can tell you is that Ms R is a good writer, has a great blog (non-law) and this is the first podcast where I have done (a) absolutely no research (other than having been a regular reader of her blog) and (b) where I had several glasses of Rioja while I did the podcast. It is about 35 minutes long – but… Ms R covers a great deal of ground. I did my best to ask questions! I enjoyed doing the podcast.
Charon QC 