Actor Noel Clarke has vowed to push ahead with his £10 million libel claim against The Guardian after a judge’s ruling on newspaper articles accusing Clarke of bullying and sexual misconduct against women.
Clarke was suspended by Bafta in light of the allegations, his film and TV projects were axed, and he was “cancelled” by the entertainment industry, the High Court was told.
He argued ordinary Guardian readers would have believed the claims against him were true, rather than disputed allegations.
The Guardian’s position was that it its readers would have learned that there were “reasonable grounds to suspect” Clarke of misconduct.
In a preliminary ruling, Mr Justice Johnson said the first article against Clarke had conveyed the meaning that “there are strong grounds to believe that the claimant is a serial abuser of women, that he has, over 15 years, used his power to prey on and harass and sometimes bully female colleagues, that he has engaged in unwanted sexual contact, kissing, touching or groping, sexually inappropriate behaviour and comments, and professional misconduct, taking and sharing explicit pictures and videos without consent, including secretly filming a young actor’s naked audition.”
The judge also ruled all of the articles could be defamatory, meaning the case can move on to the next stage.
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