Law lords reject photographer’s damages bid in row over nude pictures at castle
A PHOTOGRAPHER who says his reputation has been damaged in a row over a nude photoshoot at a Scottish castle has failed in an attempt to take his case to the Supreme Court.
Howard Kennedy planned to sue the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) for up to £50,000 after claiming statements made by the body in the wake of the controversy affected his business.
Mr Kennedy, a freelance photographer, snapped a female model at Craigievar Castle, Aberdeenshire, in 2012.
In some pictures, Rachelle Summers posed in the nude, prompting an outcry from a member of the family that gifted the 17th century castle to the nation in 1963.
Mr Kennedy, of Aberdeen, claims he had verbal consent from an NTS official to take nude pictures at the castle, but NTS said he did not have permission and that it would “never sanction” such pictures.
He claims their denial damaged his reputation and had hoped to launch a defamation action in the High
Court, London, with the prospect of up to £50,000 in damages.
However, the High Court and the Court of Appeal ruled the case could not proceed south of the Border brecause it concerned two parties based in Scotland.
Mr Kennedy then made an attempt to challenge that decision and have it heard by the Supreme Court in London. However, his application for permission to appeal was thrown out. Lord Kerr, Lord
Hodge and Lady Arden said it did not “raise an arguable point of law”.
The row erupted in 2016 after Gabriel Forbes-sempill, daughter of the 19th Lord Sempill, learned of the pictures Mr Kennedy had taken four years earlier at Craigievar.
Miss Forbes-sempill said she was not a “prude” but did not believe her parents had gifted Craigievar to the nation “for this sort of thing”.