The court of appeal has refused Noel Clarke permission to challenge a trial judge’s decision not to throw out the Guardian’s defence in a libel claim.
The 49-year-old actor is suing Guardian News and Media (GNM) over a series of articles in which more than 20 women accused him of sexual misconduct.
A high court trial of the case is due to begin on Monday.
Last month, lawyers for the former Doctor Who star applied to have GNM’s defence of his claim thrown out, claiming the publisher had deleted some messages and fabricated a thread on Signal – an encrypted messaging app.
But Mrs Justice Steyn rejected these claims and dismissed the application earlier this month, ruling that the “extremely serious allegation” that evidence had been fabricated had “no foundation”.
She criticised Clarke’s lawyers’ “unacceptable” approach and said the allegations of fabrication “should not have been made and publicly aired without foundation”.
The judge rejected the allegation the journalists had perverted the course of justice, ruling they were “free to delete these peripheral documents in accordance with their organisation’s data minimisation policy, at a time when the legal department had not instructed them to preserve potentially disclosable documents”.
Clarke had sought to challenge the decision at the court of appeal and asked for the trial of the claim to be delayed while the appeal was heard.
But Lord Justice Warby ruled on Thursday that Clarke could not appeal against the decision, stating it would have “no real prospect of success” and that there was “no other compelling reason for this court to hear an appeal”.
In a short judgment, he also said there was “no basis” to delay the start of next week’s trial, at which Clarke’s legal team intends to call 15 witnesses.
The Guardian is defending the claim on the grounds of truth and public interest, and said it intends to call 32 witnesses who will testify against the actor and director under oath.
Warby’s ruling on Thursday is the second time in the space of a week that the court of appeal has rejected an attempt by Clarke to overturn a decision by the trial judge.
Last week, on 21 February, the appeal court unanimously rejected an attempt by Clarke to add a “conspiracy” claim to his lawsuit, which could have delayed the start of the libel trial.
Responding to the latest ruling, a spokesperson for GNM said: “We welcome the court of appeal’s latest decision.
“Our reporting on Mr Clarke in 2021 was based on the accounts of 20 brave women. After we published our first article, more women came forward.
“At trial, 32 witnesses are set to testify against Mr Clarke under oath. We look forward to the judge hearing the evidence.”
