Peaches Geldof wins damages for 'prostitute' slur

Peaches Geldof has been awarded substantial undisclosed libel damages over a newspaper article that implied she was a prostitute who charged 5,000 pounds ($8,000) a night.

The 20-year-old TV presenter and model, daughter of Live Aid campaigner Bob Geldof, had brought legal proceedings over a September 2008 front page story in The Daily Star.                   

Her solicitor, Jonathan Coad, told Mr Justice Eady at London's High Court that she had initially gone to the Press Complaints Commission about the item, headlined: "Peaches: Spend the night with me for 5k".

He said Express Newspapers acknowledged the words implied Geldof "provided services of a personal sexual nature for the payment of a fee", the Press Association reported. 

"The defendant refused to publish a retraction and apology on its front page but instead published it on page two," Coad added.     

"As the publication was substantially smaller, the claimant considered this to be unacceptable as it was not, in her view, adequately prominent. "The Press Complaints Commission adjudicated upon the prominence and found it to be proportionate.                                           

"It is for this reason that the claimant now wishes to make this statement in open court to make the falsity of this allegation a matter of public record." The newspaper's solicitor Zoe Norden said her client accepted there was "no truth in the allegation".