FOOTBALLER RYAN GIGGS has accepted that there was no basis for his accusations that glamour model Imogen Thomas had tried to blackmail him, a British court has heard.

The High Court in London this morning heard that CTB – a Premier League footballer later identified in the House of Commons as being the Manchester United midfielder – and Thomas had “resolved matters between them”.

Thomas had been subject to a court injunction barring her from identifying the footballer, with whom she had an extra-marital affair – but the injunction had been sought without her knowledge, or without any chance to address the claims made against her.

The Guardian’s Roy Greenslade summates that Justice Eady – who granted the injunction to CTB – later acknowledged that his ruling was based on limited evidence.

The claim arose from an article published in The Sun newspaper on February 14 of this year, which did not name Giggs – instead only referring to a “Premier League footballer” – but did name Thomas, a model and former Big Brother contestant.

Giggs, who is married with two children, had sought the injunction later that day, fearing that Thomas had sold her story to the tabloid, or was about to.

Today representatives for all three parties agreed and accepted that Thomas was not the source of the article which appeared in The Sun.

Thomas’s lawyer told the court that his client and the footballer had “now resolved matters between them”.

Sky News quoted Justice Eady as beginning today’s proceedings with an open question: “There is no longer any point in maintaining the anonymity?”

Afterward, Thomas said she was “relieved” that the allegations of blackmail had been withdrawn, adding: “I have been vindicated, and that’s all I wanted.”

YouTube video via TelegraphTV