Janus accepts damages over orgy reports

Samantha Janus has accepted "substantial" damages after a newspaper reported that she had taken part in a drug-fuelled lesbian sex orgy.

The EastEnders actress, who plays Ronnie Mitchell in the soap, was "deeply hurt and embarrassed" by the Sunday Sport article in July. The report claimed that Janus had been involved in a three-hour orgy after she invited her boyfriend at the time Doug Harwood to have a threesome with her and a female friend.

The article also claimed that she had asked male model Sean Moore to have unprotected sex with her in a car parked in a public street.

Her solicitor-advocate, David Price, told the court "She was not prepared to allow it to remain unchallenged and therefore brought this claim for libel and misuse of private information."

Price insisted that the actress had never had sex with Harwood in front of anyone else and that she had never had a sexual relationship with Moore.

Sport Newspapers Limited and Interactive World Plc have agreed to pay Janus the undisclosed sum, as well as her legal costs.

Counsel Adam Wolanski apologised for the actions, saying: "The defendants accept that these allegations are false and the photographs should never have been published."