Baroness Lawrence feels ‘betrayed’, trial in claim against Mail publisher hears
The peer is part of a group bringing legal action against Associated Newspapers Limited, who denies allegations of unlawful information gathering.
Baroness Doreen Lawrence feels “profoundly betrayed”, the High Court has heard at the start of the trial in her claim against the publisher of the Daily Mail.
The peer, best known for her campaigning after the racist murder of her 18-year-old son Stephen Lawrence, is one of a group of household names bringing legal action against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), which also publishes the Mail On Sunday.
The group, also including the Duke of Sussex, Sir Elton John and his husband David Furnish, allege ANL had a practice of “clear, systematic and sustained use of unlawful information gathering”.
This includes allegations of the illegal interception of voicemails, listening into landline calls, and obtaining private information by deception, though the use of private investigators.
ANL has strongly denied wrongdoing, describing some of the allegations of unlawful information gathering as “baseless”.
The Daily Mail, under then-editor Paul Dacre, campaigned to bring Mr Lawrence’s killers to justice after his death in 1993.
On the front page of the paper’s February 14 1997 edition, the paper labelled five men – Gary Dobson, Neil Acourt, Jamie Acourt, Luke Knight, and David Norris – as “murderers” and challenged them to sue the newspaper for libel.
In January 2012, Dobson and Norris were found guilty of being involved in the attack and sentenced to life imprisonment, after a forensic review of the case found significant new scientific evidence on clothing seized from their homes following the murder.
On the first day of the trial on Monday, the court in London heard that Lady Lawrence felt “bitterly let down” by the paper over its alleged use of unlawful information-gathering.
Her barrister David Sherborne said: “For her, it was not about the headlines but about finding out about her son.”
In part of Lady Lawrence’s witness statement referenced in written submissions, she is said to say she feels “profoundly betrayed” and “violated”.
She can also be seen to say: “I am a victim all over again, but by people who I thought were my allies and friends.
“I am being made to fight when all I have ever wanted is to be told the plain truth and for justice to be done, and an apology.
“I am angry that I have been made to fight in the courts for over three years for things that could be so easy and simple.”
Antony White KC, for ANL, said the allegations “are denied in their entirety” and “are unsupported by the available evidence”.
He said in written submissions: “They are the product of an attempt by members of the claimants’ research team, adopted by Baroness Lawrence and her legal representatives, to present a case of unlawful information-gathering against Associated based entirely on spurious and/or discredited information, none of which is before the court in the form of proper admissible evidence.
“In fact, the reality is that the information in each of the articles was obtained by entirely legitimate reporting and based on the sources identified by Associated in its defence and evidence.”
The trial before Mr Justice Nicklin is due to conclude in nine weeks.
