Zipporah Lisle-Mainwaring, the Kensington resident who became embroiled in a high-profile planning dispute by painting her multi-million pound townhouse in red and white stripes, hit a legal setback today in her battle with the publishers of the Daily Mail.
Her planning battle with Kensington & Chelsea Council generated headlines across the national media when she painted the house in 2015. The design was said to have horrified neighbours in the exclusive area, and was likened to a circus big top and a beach hut.
The council ordered her to paint out the stripes or face prosecution. However last year, after a lengthy legal battle, she won the right to keep the house as it is.
However, she is now alleging that the conduct of Associated Newspapers, the publisher of the Daily Mail and the Mail Online, when covering her planning battle, amounted to harassment.
And to help her case, her lawyers have been seeking a wide range of information from the newspaper, including emails between journalists and editors, interview notes, receipts, and communications between the newspaper and the council.
Earlier this year, High Court Judge Sir David Eady refused her request, saying that the range of documents she sought was too wide and needed to be “defined and confined”.
And in a ruling today, the Court of Appeal agreed, saying the request was “rightly dismissed”.
The trial of the main issue is “imminent” according to Lord Justice Coulson, who handed down the judgment today.
