Noel Clarke ordered to pay at least £3m of Guardian publisher's legal fees

Noel Clarke has been ordered to wage astatine slightest £3m of The Guardian publisher's ineligible costs aft losing his "far-fetched" libel lawsuit implicit allegations of intersexual misconduct reported by the newspaper.

The archetypal article, published successful April 2021, said immoderate 20 women who knew the histrion and filmmaker in a nonrecreational capableness had travel guardant with allegations including harassment and sexually inappropriate behaviour.

Clarke, champion known for his 2006 movie Kidulthood and for starring successful Doctor Who, sued Guardian News and Media (GNM) implicit 7 articles successful total, arsenic good arsenic a podcast, and vehemently denied "any intersexual misconduct oregon wrongdoing".

Following a proceedings earlier this year, a High Court justice recovered the newspaper's reporting was substantially true, agreeing with the publisher's defence of its reporting arsenic some existent and successful the nationalist interest.

At a further proceeding connected Tuesday, Mrs Justice Steyn said Clarke indispensable wage £3m up of a elaborate appraisal into the full costs to beryllium recovered, which lawyers for the steadfast estimated to beryllium much than £6m.

"The claimant maintained a far-fetched and so a mendacious lawsuit that the articles were not substantially true, by pursuing allegations of dishonesty and atrocious religion against astir each of the defendant's information witnesses," the justice said.

She said the sum of £3m sought by GNM was "appropriate and nary much than what ought to beryllium reasonably ordered successful this case", and "substantially little than the defendant's apt level of recovery".

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