The judge’s verdict in the BE Studios case/Smith & Williamson is an absorbing document. Not only is it of general relevance to the R&D tax credit scheme, it also has some juicy gossip.

In the first paragraph, the judge reveals that Joanna Berry and Ted Evans, two
of BE’s top three, ‘had formed a personal relationship’, even though, the judge says, Evans was ‘married and with a family’. Mr Justice Evans-Lombe, TS feels, is to be praised for his sure grasp of tabloid writing (always start with the best line). Unfortunately, the subject does not reappear on pages 2, 3, 4 etc. We only learn that, by October 2001, ‘the relationship... had ended’.

There are many things one could say about that. TS asks only: are the BE pair the first couple to be outed by a High Court judgement?