Kidman wins restraining order against photographers

Unclear if related to listening device found near her home

Fred Prouser / Reuters

The bug was apparently discovered when security officers searched Nicole Kidman's Sydney house early Sunday in preparation for her return to film her new movie, “Eucalyptus.”

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updated 4:45 p.m. ET Jan. 27, 2005

SYDNEY, Australia - Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman has won temporary restraining orders against two freelance photographers.

Magistrate Lee Gilmore of the Waverly Local Court ordered photographers Jamie Fawcett, 43, and Ben McDonald, 32, not to approach Kidman at her home or go within 66 feet of her house.

The restraining orders will remain in place until at least Feb. 11, when the case returns to court.

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Neither Kidman nor the photographers attended Thursday’s hearing.

Photographers have been staking out Kidman’s home since she arrived Sunday to begin filming her new movie. Kidman’s security guards allegedly discovered a listening device earlier this week outside her residence.

Kidman’s chief bodyguard, Neil McMaster, said Monday that surveillance footage taken from the house showed that the bug had been intentionally planted by someone seeking to intercept conversations among Kidman and her bodyguards.

Graham Walsh, a lawyer for McDonald, told the court Thursday that his client “absolutely denies emphatically he has anything to do with planting any listening device anywhere near Miss Kidman’s home.”

Lawyer Roland Day, representing Fawcett, also said his client wasn’t involved with the alleged planting of the device and said he was just doing his job.

Kidman, 37, won a best-actress Oscar for her role in 2002’s “The Hours.”