On 26 April 2011, on a point of order but in apparent breach of a High Court injunction, Mr John Hemming MP (pictured) claimed that Vicky Haigh, a horse trainer and former jockey, “was the subject of an attempt by Doncaster council to imprison her for speaking at a meeting in Parliament”. A number of Twitter accounts subsequently disclosed that the injunction had been granted in family proceedings in which Ms Haigh had claimed that her former partner, David Tune, was a paedophile who had abused their daughter for some years.
This allegation became common currency on the internet and was used as an example of the abuse of ‘super-injunctions’. Other serious allegations were made against Mr Tune and members of his family. Ms Haigh was supported by a substantial internet campaign and by some parts of the mainstream media. A number of sympathetic newspaper stories – in particular by Christopher Booker in the Daily Telegraph on 30 April 2011 – described how Ms Haigh had fled to Ireland when pregnant to avoid her child being taken into care.
