Appeal judges will rule on a renewed bid by Harry Potter author JK Rowling to ban further publication of a photograph taken in the street of her son David when he was 18 months old.

The picture, showing Rowling and her husband, Dr Neil Murray, with the child in a buggy, was taken by a photographer using a long-range lens and appeared in the Sunday Express magazine to illustrate an article about her approach to motherhood and family life.

The author - suing as Mrs Joanne Murray - failed in a High Court action last year against Express Newspapers and the agency which supplied the photograph, Big Pictures (UK).

Express Newspapers has settled the claim, but the case continued against the agency and has now moved to the Court of Appeal.

The High Court ruled there was no right of privacy for famous people engaged in routine activities such as shopping and no prohibition on the taking or publishing of such photographs unless it caused harassment or distress.

The author and her husband claim that the child’s right to privacy has been infringed and seek an injunction banning further publication of the photograph or any other picture taken of him without his consent.

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