Cole has filed claims against News Group Newspapers for harassment, breach of privacy and libel — even though he is not named in any of the stories. He is also claiming breach of privacy, or “false privacy”, meaning that although he does not accept that the allegations are true, the claims have still breached his privacy.

The first of the News of the World stories was published on February 12, headlined “Gay as you go”. It alleged: “Two bisexual stars made some dirty phone calls — using a mobile as a gay sex toy.”

The article claimed that two Premiership footballers, one capped several times for England, and a music industry figure were caught on camera in a “homosexual orgy”.

On February 19 the paper published a follow-up story claiming to show two of the men involved in the alleged orgy. The photograph carried the caption “Music Figure A and Player A” but was pixellated to conceal their identities.

The News of the World stories were followed in The Sun, which made similar allegations, again not naming the footballers.

There have since been many attempts on internet websites and through blogs to trace the original, obscured picture that appeared in the News of the World. The picture used by the newspaper is thought to have been altered to remove identifying details.

One alleged original is displayed on the pinknews.co.uk website. It shows a dance music DJ with Ashley Cole. The solicitor David Price confirmed last night that he had been instructed by the DJ to bring proceedings against the newspapers.

Cole is understood to be suing not so much on the basis of the original article but because of the effect it has had in prompting many internet sites to speculate that he is the person in the article.

David Hooper, a partner with Reynolds Porter Chamberlain, said that a recent case over a book about Loreena McKennitt, the Canadian folk singer, by her former friend Niema Ash has extended the law of privacy.

The judge in that case had said that the courts could protect private information if there was a “reasonable expectation” that that information would be protected, even if untrue. That meant that people did not have to “come clean” about whether information was true or not, he said.

“There used to be a real issue as to whether information could be private, if you did not acknowledge it to be true.

“So people had a choice: either admit the allegations and go for privacy; or say they are false and go for defamation. This deterred a lot of people, who did not necessarily want to admit, for instance, gay relationships.”

Niri Shan, a partner at Taylor Wessing, who acted for Abbie Jones, nanny to David and Victoria Beckhams in their action against her, said: “Just because someone is not named does not mean they can’t sue for libel. It’s unusual but not unprecedented. Sometimes it is safer to name someone than to talk, for instance, about a professional footballer playing for Arsenal, which potentially opens up the way to 11 claims.”

PRESSURE ON THE PRESS

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