Noel Clarke loses attempt to strike out Guardian's defence in £10million libel claim
Noel Clarke loses attempt to strike out Guardian's defence in £10million libel claim
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Former Doctor Who star Noel Clarke is suing The Guardian for libel. Actor Noel Clarke has lost a bid to strike out the Guardian’s legal defence as his libel claim goes to trial on March 3. The former Doctor Who star is suing Guardian News and Media (GNM) over a series of articles which said that 20 women who knew the 49-year-old actor in a professional capacity had come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct.
Mr Clarke “vehemently” denied “any sexual misconduct or wrongdoing” at the time. GNM is defending the legal action on the grounds of truth and public interest. The actor’s lawyer, Philip Williams applied for GNM’s defence case to be struck out ahead of the full trial on Wednesday.
Mr Williams told the court in written submissions: “The claimant submits there is overwhelming evidence not just of an attempt to pervert… but actual perversion of the course of justice.”. He asserted that the “deliberate and permanent deletion” of correspondence between the journalists that investigated the claims, as well as the alleged fabrication, made it impossible for the defendant to put forward a positive case that could reasonably be believed that the “defamatory” articles were in the public interest.
GNM’s lawyers hit back that the claim was “absolutely hopeless”. Gavin Millar KC, representing GNM, told the court that the actor’s lawyers had not pointed to any evidence supporting their claim of fabricated evidence and said there were “fatal flaws” in Mr Clarke’s case.
