Clarke left women he thought spoke to the Guardian 'fearful and in tears'

The actor Noel Clarke called some of the women he thought were cooperating with the Guardian prior to publication of its investigation into his behaviour and left them "shaken, fearful and in tears", the high court has heard.

- Haroon Siddique Matthew Weaver

The Guardian's head of investigations, Paul Lewis, gave evidence yesterday in defence of Clarke's libel claim against the news publisher over allegations of sexual misconduct.

Detailing the steps taken during the investigation into allegations against the former Doctor Who star, Lewis said in his witness statement that he had become aware that Clarke and his business partner Jason Maza had been making calls to some women they thought had been talking to the Guardian's reporters. Lewis said the women had found the approaches upsetting and some had been left "shaken, fearful and in tears".

In the calls, Clarke had shown a willingness to apologise to some of his alleged sexual misconduct victims if they did not speak to the Guardian about him, the high court in London was told.

Lewis told the court that what had been said in the calls presented "a very different picture" to Clarke's communications with the Guardian, which had included blaming Adam Deacon, an actor and his former men-tee who was found guilty in 2015 of harassing Clarke, for the allegations.