The defendant, Mike Sivier, applied for leave to appeal against the libel judgment in favour of Rachel Riley, which ordered him to pay damages and costs. The Court of Appeal rejected the application on the grounds that the appeal had no realistic prospect of success and that Sivier's reliance on public interest failed due to the lack of a prior hearing of the plaintiff and because of manifestly unreasonable assumptions. The court thus upheld the decision of the lower court in its entirety.