Miller v Associated Newspapers Ltd – Libel trial starts today
21/05/2012
Andrew Miller, a management consultant and businessman, is suing Associated Newspapers Ltd in respect of an article published in the Daily Mail, and on Mail Online, in October 2008. The article appeared on the front page of the newspaper under the headline, “Met Boss in New ‘Cash for a Friend’ Storm”. The meaning of the words complained of was determined by Tugendhat J as a preliminary issue on 11 November, 2011. He found that the article meant, “…that there were (at the date of publication) reasonable grounds to suspect that [the claimant] was a willing beneficiary of improper conduct and cronyism because of his friendship with Sir Ian Blair in respect of the award of a number of Metropolitan Police Service contracts to Mr Miller’s company worth millions of pounds of public money...”. The defendant is advancing a defence of justification. The trial is before Sharp J (without a jury). It starts today and is due to last for a week.
Manuel Barca QC, instructed by Simons, Muirhead & Burton, is representing the Claimant.