ESPN reporter Erin Andrews in $75 million stalker nude video case

A Nashville hotel is being sued for some $75 million in damages by ESPN and FOX star reporter Erin Andrews. It was reported a stalker of Miss Andrews took a room adjacent to the one in which she was staying and filmed footage of her nude. The videos shot of Miss Andrews were uploaded to the internet, and subsequently viewed approximately 17 million times.

The video, taken by stalker Michael David Barrett, was recorded on his cellphone using an enlarged peephole. Andrews, 37, was changing at the time and can be seen naked in the footage. The film was played at court during testimony by Miss Andrew’s psychiatrist.

A clearly emotional Andrews heard in court from computer expert Dr Bernard Jansen that he knew of “no way to get it off” the internet now that the footage had been uploaded and shared so many thousands of times.

Andrews has moved to sue the hotel in which the incident took place, the Marriott in Nashville, claiming they improperly placed stalker Barrett in a room close to hers and failed to notice the changes he had made to the peephole on the door.

Andrews’ lawyers called Barrett’s actions “unacceptable in a civilised society”, vowing to put him behind bars. The video of Andrews, meanwhile, ranked top for many days in the videos most searched for on the internet, on both Google and YouTube.

The hotel owners, for their part, claim that Barrett is a criminal and that they were unknowingly tricked into giving him the rooms next to those occupied by Miss Andrews.

Erin Andrews has been a mainstay on popular sports channels for many years, reporting on top fixtures from the worlds of basketball and American football. Recently she played host to reality dance show Dancing With The Stars.

ABC News reported that the offending video has now been removed from top websites, and in some cases fake videos infected with viruses were taking their place.

The case continues next week.