The case before the appeal court related to a late application from his legal team to introduce a new claim of “unlawful means conspiracy”, which would involve adding six proposed co-defendants ahead of a trial.
Noel Clarke has suffered a legal setback after the court of appeal rejected his 11th-hour bid to seek to add a new ‘conspiracy’ claim to his lawsuit, which could have delayed the start of a libel trial.
At a pre-trial review hearing on 20 January, lawyers for the Guardian described Clarke’s conspiracy claim and attempt to join the six co-defendants as “meritless” and “a means of trying to avoid the March trial and of intimidating and deterring witnesses”.
He said Clarke had “fallen a long way short of establishing that the judge’s decision offends the principles of natural justice, deprives him of any chance of a fair trial of his conspiracy claim, or removes his chances of legitimate vindication”.
However in legal submissions to the court of appeal this week, Clarke’s legal team described the six co-defendants as “conspirators” and accused them of being involved in a criminal attempt to “sabotage his career and reputation”.
