She'd explicitly denied the stories but the Mirror and Sunday Mirror chose to run it. There can't be a season of Stictly Come Dancing without some strictly suspicious behaviour or what is strictly speaking a stitch up. Making dancing partners seem more than that is an easy target. Misinterpreting a friendly hug for something more is equally easy prey. But unless the Mirror can prove there is truth behind its allegations and suggestion that Kate was getting it on with du Beke then they will be negotiating a settlement with her lawyers, Schillings. This is another case that shows that its not worth trying to spin a story out of a compromising shot taken out of context. If you can't prove the substance (assuming there is one) of the story to be true or justify the innuendo and suggestion being spun then its an open goal for libel lawyers to shoot at. Perhaps the sales generated by the copy was deemed to offset the libel risk but the fact with these sort of stories is that even if they sue, those affected still have some of the story stick as readers remember headlines more than they do libel settlements. For the paper's part it just points to an attempt at a headline generating pop that replaces chequebook journalism in the sense of paying people for their story with settlement journalism - book the sales revenue and let the lawyers mop up the collateral.
More:
MediaGuardian
Reuters
and fair play to the Mirror who report on being sued themselves HERE
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