Noel Clarke’s lawyers have accused the Guardian of ‘fabricating evidence’ in an effort to bolster their investigation into claims of sexual misconduct against the star.
Clarke, 49, best known for his Kidulthood film trilogy and appearing in Dr Who, is suing the Guardian over a series of articles published in 2021 and 2022 that accused him of sexual misconduct and bullying.
He appeared at the High Court today as his legal team argued investigative reporters at the newspaper deleted messages when they were aware of the possibility of legal action.
Mr Clarke’s barrister claimed that shortly before the first story was published Paul Lewis, the Guardian’s head of investigations, instructed two journalists working on the story to delete a series of messages that had been sent between themselves via the encrypted app Signal.
In one message Mr Lewis wrote: ‘…can we clear all our Signal messages please? Delete this entire thread. I’ll create a new thread which will likely be disclosable in court.’
In another, sent almost three hours later, he wrote: ‘please delete all Signal threads, including this one and individual one on one discussions we’ve had or you’ve had with each other.’
Arthur Lo, representing Clarke, said: ‘These messages speak for themselves. It must have been at the forefront of the defendant’s investigative team that litigation was likely.
‘The instruction seems to be to delete all Signal threads which in any event were on auto delete.
‘The intention is the fabrication of a thread which would be favourable in court. That seems to be the intention behind Mr Lewis’ messages.’
The Guardian firmly denies any wrongdoing and stands by their reports.
Gavin Miller KC for the Guardian issued a thunderous denial of the allegations made by Clarke.
He said: ‘There is nothing by the way of evidence to support these very serious allegations of deletion of evidence and fabrication.
‘They appear to have been made to launder damaging allegations against Guardian journalists which could not be made outside of court.
‘They are being made under the protection of privilege which is regrettable. There is not a scintilla of evidence.’
The first article said 20 women who knew Clarke through work had made allegations. Clarke has vehemently denied any sexual misconduct or criminal wrongdoing.
In their skeleton argument, Mr Clarke’s lawyers allege Mr Lewis’s messages ‘clearly indicate an intention to delete and fabricate new evidence’ and accuse the newspaper of ‘perverting the course of justice’.
Mr Lewis’s messages were sent after Clarke’s lawyers had warned the paper that the actor would sue if they published defamatory articles, it is claimed.
The Guardian’s lawyers accused Mr Clarke of attempting to ‘smear’ its journalists and said Mr Lewis’s instruction to delete messages was made to comply with the newspaper’s policy on ‘data minimisation’.
Mr Lewis later discovered the two threads of messages that he had asked to be deleted and that all but two pages of these were disclosed to Clarke’s team, the newspaper added in a written submission.
This, the Guardian claimed, ‘fatally undermines’ Clarke’s case that Lewis wanted to conceal them from the court.
‘There is no evidence either that any evidence was ‘fabricated’,’ the Guardian said in its submission.
It added that it had disclosed thousands of documents related to its investigation, including 80 pages of Signal messages and 500 emails sent between Mr Lewis and the two journalists.
Clarke claims the allegations cost him lucrative acting roles and saw primetime shows Bulletproof and Viewpoint dropped by Sky and ITV.
It also led to the British Academy of Film and Television Art stripping Clarke of his Outstanding Contribution to Cinema award and suspending his membership.
His lawyers last week revealed he is seeking to amend his damages claim to £70m – up from £10m.
In an interview with the Mail on Sunday in 2022, Clarke said the allegations left him contemplating suicide and that his family was financially ‘running on fumes’.
The Guardian has said 32 people are to give evidence in support of its defence. They include 26 people who will say they were the victims of – or witnesses to – serious misconduct by Clarke, or can ‘otherwise corroborate’ the allegations.
A six-week trial is due to start in March.