Ryan Giggs drops bid to ban press from court battle with wife over money

Former footballer Ryan Giggs has decided not to ask a judge to bar reporters from High Court hearings relating to his fight over money with his estranged wife.

News that the ex-Manchester United star and his wife Stacey were embroiled in a High Court dispute emerged earlier this year.

Mr Justice Cobb on Friday considered issues relating to reporting at a preliminary private hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London.

The judge made an order limiting what journalists would be able to report - after an application by Giggs.

He said Giggs had also initially asked for an order preventing media representatives from attending hearings.

But he said the former footballer was no longer pursuing that application.

Neither Giggs nor Mrs Giggs was at the hearing.

Giggs was respresented by barristers Robert Peel QC and Petra Teacher

Mrs Giggs' legal team did not attend.

Mr Justice Cobb said he would not allow reporting of financial information aired during the litigation.

He also said the pair's children should not be named in any report of proceedings.

The judge said journalists could report that Giggs and Mrs Giggs were involved in a dispute - and name them.

Giggs retired as a player in the summer of 2014.

He made a record 963 appearances for United over 24 seasons and won 64 Welsh international caps.

Giggs worked as United's interim manager for a short spell after ending his playing career.

Specialist lawyers are currently debating how much the public should be told about people involved in big-money divorce battles after two High Court judges outlined opposing views.

Mr Justice Holman, who analyses cash fights between separated couples at public hearings, has said there is a ''pressing need'' for more openness.

Mr Justice Mostyn, who analyses cash fights at private hearings, has said such disputes are ''quintessentially private business''.

Both judges, like Mr Justice Cobb, sit in the Family Division of the High Court - where divorce fights involving millionaires are analysed - and are based at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.

They have both explained their thinking in rulings on cases.

Other judges based in the Family Division of the High Court also stage hearings in private and appear to side with Mr Justice Mostyn.

Earlier this month a, more senior, Court of Appeal judge said the ''divergence of opinion'' between Mr Justice Holman and Mr Justice Mostyn was an ''unsatisfactory state of affairs''.

Lady Justice King indicated that the issue would be considered by a panel of appeal judges in the ''relatively near future''.

She made her comments in a ruling on a divorce money fight which had recently been considered by appeal judges in London.

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