Model wins privacy damages from Met Police

A model has accepted undisclosed privacy damages from the Metropolitan Police over the sale of information about her by an officer to The Sun.

Sarah Hannon was told by Operation Elveden investigators in 2013 how an article in the newspaper four years earlier came to be published, solicitor Nicola McCann told Mr Justice Mann at London's High Court.

The model said she was shocked and distressed to learn that a police officer could behave in this way and felt very let down and humiliated by the betrayal.

She issued proceedings and the Met admitted that her private information was wrongly disclosed to a journalist and that this constituted a breach of confidence, a misuse of private information and a breach of her Article 8 privacy rights.

The Met has agreed to pay damages and a contribution to Ms Hannon's legal costs, Ms McCann said.

Ms Hannon recently settled her claim against The Sun's publisher over the publication and News Group Newspapers agreed to pay her damages and contribute to her costs, the court heard.

Metropolitan Police representative Jacob Dean said it was accepted there had been a serious misuse of Ms Hannon's private information, which should never have happened.

He offered sincere apologies for the distress and humiliation Ms Hannon had suffered.