Judge allows Walker court battle reporting after Goodman ‘instigated’ coverage

A judge who ruled that the press could report on a court dispute between Manchester City footballer Kyle Walker and Lauryn Goodman said that she had “actively instigated” press coverage of their children despite her objections to the proceedings being reported.

Judge Edward Hess said it “sits ill” that Ms Goodman argued that the hearing at the Central Family Court in London should be private, having recently taken payment from the press to attend the European Championships in Germany for “journalistic fodder”.

Model Ms Goodman, 33, was in a court dispute with 34-year-old Mr Walker earlier this month over the amount of money he should pay to support their one-year-old daughter, Kinara.

Reporting of the hearing had been prohibited under a court ruling, which was opposed by the media and lawyers for Mr Walker.

It sits ill for a person to come to court arguing for privacy for her children when, just a very short while earlier, she took a payment from the press to visit the European football championship with her son dressed in an England football shirt with the name ‘Daddy’ on the back, and to be willingly photographed doing this to provide journalistic fodder which the newspapers were only too happy to use

Despite objections from Ms Goodman, Judge Hess said any harm caused to the children by the court case “has already happened” and would “largely be the result of the mother’s own decisions and actions” in public.

In his ruling, he said: “It would be a nonsense, opening the court to ridicule, to try to redact or anonymise this judgment to prevent identification of the parties.

“Further, a perusal of the many hundreds of newspaper articles published about these matters clearly illustrates that the mother has not just co-operated with, but actively instigated, press coverage placing in the public domain her own children, the circumstances of their conceptions and what she thinks about the father.

“It sits ill for a person to come to court arguing for privacy for her children when, just a very short while earlier, she took a payment from the press to visit the European football championship with her son dressed in an England football shirt with the name ‘Daddy’ on the back, and to be willingly photographed doing this to provide journalistic fodder which the newspapers were only too happy to use.

“If the children suffer any harm from the publicity of these matters, it has already happened, and it will largely be the result of the mother’s own decisions and actions.

“For me, on the facts of this case, the balancing exercise must come down against the mother’s argument.

“For me, the right of the press to scrutinise and comment upon the court’s procedures and decisions, and what the mother has requested of the father and how he has responded, is on this occasion a greater priority.”

The ruling comes after the court was told by Mr Walker’s barristers that Ms Goodman confirmed Kinara’s paternity in the press earlier this year.

Nichola Gray KC, representing Ms Goodman, told the court that Mr Walker had previously tried to ensure Ms Goodman would “stay silent” about the child’s paternity, and that the model had agreed to a “gagging undertaking”.

Mr Walker agreed with Ms Gray that he “did not want to acknowledge publicly” the paternity of the child, but said he did not believe that it would remain private “forever”.

He said: “My wife at home did not know and I have two children with Lauryn, four children with Annie, and I wanted to protect them as best as possible.”

He said that while he did not believe he was “over a barrel”, he said: “(Ms Goodman) did not have a gun to my head but she did have a detonator and for me, it was about keeping the peace because I did not want my wife finding out.”

A pilot scheme to increase transparency in the family court system, which began with three courts in 2023, was expanded earlier this year to allow accredited journalists and legal bloggers to report on cases at nearly 20 courts across England and Wales, including the Central Family Court.

It is my view preferable that anybody interested in the topic should have the opportunity to read the full independent account contained in this judgment before reaching any conclusions about what has happened

Judges can set out what details may be reported under a Transparency Order, with journalists also allowed to access some documents.

Following an application made by members of the media, Judge Hess ruled that details of the hearing could be reported, with the exception of some personal information.

He said in his judgment that he had reached a “clear conclusion” that “the normal confidentiality restrictions should be dispensed with”, adding: “I also consider it very likely, having heard her evidence, that the mother will be tempted, one way or another and whatever any transparency order says, to seek defiantly to put in the public domain her views about the court’s findings and also further views she may have about the father.

“In these circumstances, it is my view preferable that anybody interested in the topic should have the opportunity to read the full independent account contained in this judgment before reaching any conclusions about what has happened.”

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