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Dominatrix "sorry" for racing chief orgy row

LONDON
Sat Jul 26, 2008 7:50am EDT

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Max Mosley, president of the International Automobile Federation (FIA), Formula One's governing body, leaves the High Court in central London July 24, 2008. Mosley won damages in a British court on Thursday as a judge ruled that a tabloid newspaper violated his privacy by publishing details of his part in a sado-masochistic orgy. REUTERS/Andrew Winning

LONDON (Reuters) - The woman who filmed motor racing chief Max Mosley taking part in a sado-masochistic orgy and sold the story to a British tabloid newspaper has apologized for the trouble it caused.

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On Thursday, Mosley, 68, won 60,000 pounds ($119,100) in damages at London's High Court from the News of the World newspaper for breaching his privacy by reporting details of a German-themed sex session with five prostitutes.

The paper's story, which claimed Mosley, son of Britain's 1930s Fascist leader Oswald Mosley, had taken part in a "sick Nazi orgy" was based on footage captured by one of the women involved in the sex session, referred to in court as "Woman E".

In an interview with Sky News, she said there had been no Nazi element and was sorry for the trouble it had caused Mosley, president of Formula One's governing body.

"It was never talked about that it was going to be a Nazi scene, we just had confirmation to say that it was going to be a German prison scenario," the self-confessed dominatrix said.

"I can only apologize for what has happened but it's not going to take back all the damage that has been done."

The woman, a mother-of-two who Sky said was called Michelle, said the scandal had also forced her husband to quit his job as an agent for Britain's MI5 security service.

"He decided that the best thing to do was just be right and resign and save them any embarrassment," she said.

After the story emerged, Mosley faced pressure to quit his job but held on after winning a confidence vote at an extraordinary general assembly of the International Automobile Federation, Formula One's governing body.

In court, he revealed that his wife of 48 years had had no idea about his sado-masochistic fetish. He said he had frequently paid up to 2,500 pounds a time to have prostitutes beat, whip and humiliate him.

(Reporting by Michael Holden, editing by Mary Gabriel)



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