Actress denies selling her story

THE actress alleged to have had an affair with David Mellor yesterday denied that she had sold her story to the press, and deplored the 'obscene untruths' being told about her.

Antonia de Sancha, who is in hiding, issued a statement through Aquila Productions, a production company which employed her last year. She said: 'People who I once considered my friends and the depths of the gutter press have, with their disgusting lies, succeeded in hounding me to the extent that I feel like a caged animal.

'I have not at any time spoken to any members of the press and have never received payment of any kind.

'I find it amazing that the press are prepared to publish unsubstantiated stories from people who claim to have known me at some point in my life.

'The people involved in the selling and publication of these obscene untruths and the invasion of my privacy have totally ruined my life and left me shattered. All I desire is to be left alone to rebuild my life and pursue my career as an actress.'

Since the People printed the first allegations of an affair between Ms de Sancha and Mr Mellor the tabloids have been filled with lurid stories about her. In yesterday's Sun the front page headline read 'She gave a great toe job', over an interview with man claiming to be her former lover. Monday's Daily Mirror printed pictures of her bedroom.

Ms de Sancha's alleged rent arrears, social life, upbringing and career featured heavily in yesterday's papers, with interviews from alleged friends. Many papers have speculated that she may have colluded in selling the story to the People.

Peter Meineck, of Aquila Productions, said yesterday that Ms de Sancha was distraught. 'She is the victim in all of this.'

Aquila Productions employed Ms de Sancha last year to play Clytemnestra in a production of Aeschylus's Agamemnon which toured the United States and Canada and ran for four weeks in London.