Sienna Miller tells of paparazzi chase

11/02/2008 16:12

By Andrew Hough

LONDON (Reuters) - Actress Sienna Miller told a court on Monday of her terror as paparazzi photographers chased her car across London after a night out at a club.

The 26-year-old said she had tried desperately to evade the photographers to stop them learning her new address, which was still a closely guarded secret.

Giving evidence for 30 minutes, Miller said photographers darted in and out of traffic and nearly blinded her driver by taking flash pictures.

The paparazzi cut up cars and buses and dangerously overtook on blind corners in a bid to score another picture, she told West London Magistrates Court.

"I felt scared and threatened. Their actions were aggressive, to say the least," Miller told the court.

"I believed it was particularly frenzied on this occasion because they did not know where I lived and they were particularly keen to find out so they could follow me more and get the pictures they wanted."

Lying slouched in the backseat of her Mercedes as the photographers drove like "lunatics" trying to take her picture, Miller said she rang her boyfriend pleading for him to help her to escape.

Miller was in the witness box as the key defence witness in a case involving her ex-boyfriend’s brother, Otis Ferry, who is accused of criminal damage.

Ferry, the son of Roxy .....continued below

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Music singer Bryan Ferry, was with his brother, Isaac -- Miller’s then boyfriend -- and the actress, as they left Boujis nightclub in west London, last February.

Miller, one of the most photographed woman in Britain, had been celebrating at the exclusive nightclub, favoured by London socialites and celebrities, during a private function after being asked to present an award at the BAFTAs --- Britain’s answer to the Oscars.

Ferry, 25, from Shrewsbury, western England, is accused of "taking the law into his own hands" by forcibly removing the keys from two photographers’ cars.

The court was previously told that the photographers were stranded for several hours, costing them lucrative income, as well as 180 pounds for new keys.

Dressed in a dark grey mini-skirt suit with her long blonde hair tied up, Miller gave her testimony just hours after she missed out on a prize at the British film awards, the BAFTAs.

Ferry, who is on bail, denies two counts of criminal damage.

He had earlier told the court the photographers had been driving "like lunatics" and denied he was showing off to Miller in a drunken rage.

District Judge David Simpson is expected to return a verdict later on Monday.

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