Actor Noel Clarke suffers blow in libel case against the Guardian

Noel Clarke suffered a blow in his legal action against the Guardian yesterday after a high court judge rejected his attempt to strike out the publisher's defences in the case.

- Haroon Siddique

At a hearing in central London, Clarke had sought to prevent the Guardian relying on the defences of truth and public interest at trial for defamation and data protection, but Mrs Justice Steyn rejected the application after hearing that it was "absolutely hopeless".

Gavin Millar KC, appearing for the Guardian, told the court that Clarke was using the hearing to make "unfounded and unsubstantiated allegations of a wild nature".

Clarke, an actor and producer best known for his Kidulthood film trilogy, is suing the Guardian over articles published in 2021 and 2022 after an investigation that set out multiple claims of misconduct against him. Clarke's legal team had sought to get the defences struck out, alleging Guardian journalists had deleted evidence and also fabricated evidence. However, Philip Williams, acting for Clarke, later admitted that he could not point to any document that had been fabricated by the Guardian.