“The question is what would the words convey to the mind of the ordinary, reasonable, fair-minded reader? The natural and ordinary meaning of words is not determined by any meaning that the law may attach to the same words. Words may acquire a specific meaning in law that an ordinary person would not understand the words to bear and consequently the same words could be found to have a meaning in a libel claim that is different from their technical legal meaning. Whether they do so is a question of fact that turns on the application of the principles of interpretation.”
“25. Therein lies the danger of the use of dictionary definitions to provide a guide to the meaning of an alleged defamatory statement. That meaning is to be determined according to how it would be understood by the ordinary reasonable reader. It is not fixed by technical, linguistically precise dictionary definitions, divorced from the context in which the statement was made.”
“the Claimant will call all his witnesses, save for Arnold Oceng, who has recently indicated he is not able to attend trial. His evidence will therefore be relied on as hearsay. A hearsay notice will therefore shortly be provided to the Defendant”
“The investigation was inadequate and unfair, especially given the complete lack of critical scrutiny of evidently hostile sources”
“As you know, Mr Tessarin is in China for the period during which the Claimant’s evidence takes place. He is therefore unable to attend Court and is unable to give evidence in person or by VCR due to the lack of agreement between the Chinese and UK Governments to give evidence in English proceedings from China. His statement shall therefore be relied on as hearsay. A hearsay notice is being prepared. Separately, we have been informed that Shanika Warren-Markland, Stephanie Tripp and Junior Quartey are no longer available to attend Court. Their statements will be relied on as hearsay, and hearsay notices will be prepared and filed with the Court.”
“Separately, we refer to the Claimant’s application of14 March 2025 , in which he sought a Reporting Restriction Order in favour of Mr Nabil Elouahabi. Mr Elouahabi is currently extremely busy and on set filming. Unfortunately, Mr Elouahabi confirmed yesterday that his schedule for the week had been changed such that he would not be able to step away from set to give evidence. It is regrettable that this was only brought to the attention of the Claimant’s legal team last night. As such, Mr Elouahabi will no longer be able to give live evidence in these proceedings, and a hearsay notice shall be prepared on his behalf as well. Accordingly, Claimant’s Application of 14 March will no longer be pursued.”
“A failure to comply with subsection (1), or with rules under subsection (2)(b), does not affect the admissibility of the evidence but may be taken into account by the court— (a) in considering the exercise of its powers with respect to the course of proceedings and costs, and (b) as a matter adversely affecting the weight to be given to the evidence in accordance with section 4.” (a) in considering the exercise of its powers with respect to the course of proceedings and costs, and (b) as a matter adversely affecting the weight to be given to the evidence in accordance with section 4.”
“(1) In estimating the weight (if any) to be given to hearsay evidence in civil proceedings the court shall have regard to any circumstances from which any inference can reasonably be drawn as to the reliability or otherwise of the evidence. (2) Regard may be had, in particular, to the following— (a) whether it would have been reasonable and practicable for the party by whom the evidence was adduced to have produced the maker of the original statement as a witness; (b) whether the original statement was made contemporaneously with the occurrence or existence of the matters stated; (c) whether the evidence involves multiple hearsay; (d) whether any person involved had any motive to conceal or misrepresent matters; (e) whether the original statement was an edited account, or was made in collaboration with another or for a particular purpose; (f) whether the circumstances in which the evidence is adduced as hearsay are such as to suggest an attempt to prevent proper evaluation of its weight.” (a) whether it would have been reasonable and practicable for the party by whom the evidence was adduced to have produced the maker of the original statement as a witness; (b) whether the original statement was made contemporaneously with the occurrence or existence of the matters stated; (c) whether the evidence involves multiple hearsay; (d) whether any person involved had any motive to conceal or misrepresent matters; (e) whether the original statement was an edited account, or was made in collaboration with another or for a particular purpose; (f) whether the circumstances in which the evidence is adduced as hearsay are such as to suggest an attempt to prevent proper evaluation of its weight.”
“I am currently working as a sound mixer on a production called MobLand for Paramount+. We are currently trying to finish filming and the schedule has become more pressurised than anticipated, as well as being over a longer period than planned. The locations and scheduling change from time to time and will continue to do so. Filming is taking place in many different locations over this period, often from one day to another. The schedule requires me to work long days in many different locations over the coming weeks and to offer flexibility for scheduling changes. I am unable to attend the trial for cross-examination as I am unable to take leave from this role without causing disruption to my team and the wider production.”
“49. I do not agree that this analysis requires proof that each individual publication caused serious reputational harm. There will doubtless be cases in which an individualised approach is both possible and necessary. That might be so, for instance, in a case of publication to a small number of identified individuals only one of whom turns out to have believed the allegation complained of. But the statutory words ‘its publication’ are flexible enough to embrace other kinds of case, including the typical case of media or online publication involving a mass of individual publications to numerous unknown individuals. There is no principled objection to the application in such a case of a modified version of the traditional pragmatic approach of the common law, which is to consider the relevant publications collectively when assessing reputational harm. The modification is that in a case of this kind the size and shape of the relevant group of publications will not be known for certain until after the public interest defence has been assessed.”
“Secondly, it could not be right for the Court to consider the cumulative impact on reputation of all the imputations in all the articles complained of. That is contrary to established principle, and at odds with the wording of the 2013 Act. In some unusual circumstances, articles published at different times may be so interlinked that they can be considered in conjunction for some purposes, such as meaning, or reference (see, for instance, Hayward v Thompson[1982] 1 QB 47 ). But in general, for the purposes of assessing defamatory impact, a published article must be considered individually; it will not normally be appropriate or even possible to treat a number of articles as a single ‘statement’ for the purpose of s.1, any more than it was at common law.”
“(1) It is a defence to an action for defamation for the defendant to show that the imputation conveyed by the statement complained of is substantially true. (2) Subsection (3) applies in an action for defamation if the statement complained of conveys two or more distinct imputations. (3) If one or more of the imputations is not shown to be substantially true, the defence under this section does not fail if, having regard to the imputations which are shown to be substantially true, the imputations which are not shown to be substantially true do not seriously harm the claimant’s reputation.”
“18. While filming in Wales the Claimant invited [Ms Hayes] into his trailer ostensibly to check his costume. While they were inside his trailer, the Claimant commented on [Ms Hayes’] long hair saying words to the effect that ‘I like girls with long hair. It’s nice to have something to hold on to when I do them from behind’. 19. [Ms Hayes] sought to leave the trailer in response to this comment. When she did so, the Claimant repeated that ‘it is nice to have something to hold on to” and, through his body language, including sucking his teeth and exhaling, indicated that he was imagining having sex. As [Ms Hayes] understood it, this was with her.”
“I started working on this production at the beginning of 2005. This was my first time working on Doctor Who. It was therefore imperative that I have had and maintained a stellar reputation, and that I did nothing which would reflect badly on my personality or my professionalism in the film and media industry. I would not, therefore, have ever made such a comment which would have the potential to seriously jeopardise and prejudice my entire career at such an early stage. I also deny, if it is suggested, that I would have abused any position of power in respect of [Joanne Hayes], which would have prevented or intimidated her from making the senior Production team aware of any misconduct or sexual allegations. As a newcomer to the BBC and a show running for over four decades, I had no real power.”
“The first block of filming began in Wales in mid-July 2004 for 1 week. We then spent 1 week working in London where Noel Clarke was only around briefly to film scene(s) for the first episode. We then returned for more filming in Wales, which I believe was from August and filming on Block 1 finished in early September 2004. I do not recall the exact location in Wales. I was working in the middle of tall trucks and didn’t see much of the scenery beyond and in any case we moved unit base regularly. ... My job was to deal with the actors at unit base: making sure that they had the right costumes plus jewellery and accessories or other items for continuity, preparing costumes, and organising any additional kit needed on set such as warm coats and umbrellas. Actors would normally get into costume in their trailers after they had visited make-up so their costume wouldn’t get creased or dirty. I was working alone in my role at unit base.”
“9. … Noel was standing in the doorway of his dressing room trailer and we exchanged some chit-chat, just polite pleasantries for probably no more than 2 minutes, which was fine and perfectly normal. … 10. I asked Noel if he had his costume. He invited me into the trailer and I thought nothing of it. Then there was a complete flip of tone and from nowhere Noel remarked on my having long hair (which I had). He said something like ‘I like girls with long hair. It’s nice to have something to hold on to when I do them from behind’. This wasn’t in a jokey or cheeky tone. It was clearly sexual and I understood it as being a sexual advance to me. 11. I felt very uncomfortable and my expression must have visibly changed to show my discomfort. I was standing further away from the door than Noel when he made this comment and I think I stepped back from him. Noel tried to smooth it over and said something like ‘nah nah, it’s alright I’ve got a girlfriend and she’s got long hair’. He was trying to make light of the situation and it seemed to me he was trying [to] excuse his sexual suggestion to me. 12. It was clear to me the conversation was not going to be about work and I instinctively wanted to leave the trailer immediately. I went around Noel the long way (the trailers aren’t big) with Noel on my right to get nearer to the door. There was more room that way and it meant I didn’t have to push past him. 13. As I walked around Noel, I could see his face as he turned towards me and he continued by saying something like ‘but it is nice to have something to hold on to’ and sucked his teeth like he was imagining in detail the sexual act he’d originally referred to, exhaled like he’d enjoyed thinking about it, then laughed again to make light of it or to make fun of me taking it seriously and suggesting I had got it wrong.”
“I do not remember that incident at all. So, I say it did not happen.”
“sometimes when people, when things like this happen, stories like this happen and people’s faces are all over the world and stuff, sometimes people who do not always feel seen or do not always feel heard or might have felt upset without other people knowing. They want to feel heard and they want to feel seen, so maybe she felt she wanted to say something.”
“In my statement I said ‘something like’, because by the time I had realised what he was saying, it had taken a moment to register so I had not heard the very specifics of the start of the sentence. But I had heard the ‘like girls with long hair. It’s nice to have something to hold on to when I do them from behind’. That is when my mind started to race, ‘How did we get here?’”
“I did. It was not for any glory. I work behind the scenes. It was [a] real effort. I had to sleep on whether I should contact the Guardian or not. I was nervous about having my name in the paper, but I felt I should add my name to it.”
“22. The Claimant sought unsuccessfully to persuade Sophia the actresses should audition in their underwear. He also sought to exclude Sophia from the room while auditions took place but was unsuccessful in this too. During the course of the auditions he flirted with actresses and sometimes asked for their telephone numbers. 23. After one auditionee left the room, the Claimant grabbed Sophia’s hand and placed it on his crotch while undoing his trousers. He told Sophia he had an erection and then showed her his erect penis. 24. During the course of subsequent auditions the Claimant and Sophia were again in the location [for the auditions for the female lead]. Shortly after Sophia had entered the room, the Claimant grabbed Sophia by the throat with his other hand on his groin. He proceeded to rub his erect penis on Sophia through her clothes, including on her groin area. On neither occasion did Sophia consent to this sexual touching and gave the Claimant no reason to think that she was consenting. 25. The Claimant and Sophia subsequently worked together on [Production B]. During auditions, Sophia received news that a colleague had died. Distressed by this news, she asked to be allowed to leave for the day. The Claimant shouted at her, saying she was being unprofessional, and refused to let her leave.”
“I deny attempting to persuade actresses to audition in their underwear, with or without Sophia’s cooperation. These auditions were carried out fully clothed. … If an audition is required to be carried out semi-clothed, or unclothed, this is done with the actors’ prior knowledge and consent. … Further, I could not have excluded Sophia from the room during auditions, given her position …, and it was therefore crucial that she be involved in the audition process. I did not expose myself to Sophia, or place her hand on my penis, or grab her throat, or touch her groin area, with or without consent. The meeting room used for auditions … was glass-walled, and therefore any conduct of the above nature would have been readily visible, and seen by all present.”
“There was going to be a sex scene involving Noel and the female lead actor. Noel told me in advance of the auditions he wanted actresses to audition in underwear and said this was because he needed to know whether they would be comfortable with playing the role naked. I refused this suggestion. Noel also wanted to have private rehearsals with the female auditionees prior to the audition, which was very odd. I said he needed to narrow down the list to the top three candidates and that we would have a chemistry read but not private rehearsals. I asked Noel why he only wanted to do this with the girls and he said it was about having an ‘intimate connection’. The actors were all young, I think around 18 years old.”
“With the female candidates he was flirty and sometimes asked for their phone numbers. I would distract everyone when this happened and I made sure their numbers were not shared. I would either change the subject or say I could take care of passing on phone numbers but deliberately not do so. … At the auditions Noel became less and less professional. He was flirtatious and constantly making innuendo comments.”
“I would need to leave the room between auditions to call in the next actor. On one occasion, just as the auditionee had left the room, Noel grabbed my hand and put it on his crotch. He undid his trousers. He said something like ‘see, I’m really hard’ and when I showed I was not interested he said ‘no, seriously’ and showed me his erect penis through his open trousers. I rolled my eyes and got up and said I would bring in the next person so he should go away. I made it out to be a joke to avoid angering him and he laughed it off. For the time being the atmosphere was fine. On another occasion within the following week or 2 we had been out for a quick lunch and then came back to the meeting room to wait for the actors to arrive for casting auditions. I had just come into the room and out of nowhere Noel came over to me and pushed up against me with one hand on my throat and one hand on his groin area. He rubbed his erection against me. He is a similar height to me and so when he pushed himself against me his erection pushed against my groin area. I immediately told him to get off me and pushed him off. I think I probably made some kind of joke to get out of the situation because I knew he had a very bad temper.”
“I burst into tears and asked if the others could finish doing the auditions without me. Noel shouted and screamed at me in front of the producers, saying that I was being unprofessional. He said I had to stay and read with the actors. Since it was in front of the producers, I felt I had to carry on and did so. That was the final straw for me. We didn’t work together again and I assume that choice was mutual. He might have contacted me occasionally if there was something he wanted to be cast for.”
“The purpose of an audition is to evaluate an actor’s talent and suitability for a role. Rehearsals only take place once an actor has been cast. It would be nonsensical and entirely contradictory for rehearsals to take place whilst auditions are ongoing, or before an audition has taken place. I was present during the auditions as the audition scene featured my character, so I read the scripted lines. I did not need to rehearse with actresses before their auditions, nor would I have asked for this. Further, auditions are scheduled and timetabled by the Casting Director. Seeking to include rehearsals between these auditions would take up an enormous amount of time, which would not be available given auditions were arranged usually back-to-back.”
“I do not wish to give oral evidence at trial. I think it would be traumatic to have the truth of my account questioned by Noel Clarke’s lawyers. I have already been through the experiences set out in this witness statement and I do not wish to go through them again in court or to look at Noel Clarke.”
“In the last 4 months, I have had 5 different surgeries arising from the ongoing complications. I am still recovering from the effects of these surgeries, namely the healing of wounds and the associated exhaustion and stress. I have tried to prepare myself to attend this trial while these treatments have been ongoing. I have been discussing with Wiggin the possibility of giving evidence from [the United States] where I live. I have also discussed with Wiggin what is required and tried to ready myself for cross-examination. While preparing to attend trial in the midst of these treatments, I also discussed my involvement with my oncologist and my therapist. In the course of these preparations I realised that I would need to prioritise my mental and physical health. I am concerned about the impact on my recovery as a result of the stress of preparing for and undergoing cross-examination in these proceedings. In these circumstances I feel that I cannot attend the trial.”
“I arrived to discover that Noel was there alone. He met me at ground level and walked me up to the small office space. There were no other staff of any kind. The room was very compact, the blinds were down, there was a computer on a desk and a black leather sofa. I found the space very odd, not at all like a regular rehearsal space or production office but didn’t see it as a red flag.”
“Noel proposed that we rehearsed the blocking of the scenes. This means working out the positions and movements within a scene. Noel had us lie on the floor and he was on top of me. I found this very weird, too intimate, unprofessional and wrong, but I didn’t feel threatened, and I tolerated it.”
“I tried on the shorts at a costume fitting and Noel came over and said ‘yeah you’ve replaced the other ones, I like how they look’. He was grinning and flirtatious. He later commented on my bottom saying that I didn’t have a white arse and that it was like a black girl’s. He said something about it not being flat (implying like he thought white girls’ are). I found this embarrassing, but I laughed it off.”
“In the rehearsal of this scene, Noel had an erection. I could feel it clearly rubbing on me and he made me aware of it. He was smiling and sort of giggling quietly. There were a lot of people around us. He said ‘look what you’ve done to me’. He made out he was embarrassed and caught out. Noel asked me not to move to avoid the crew seeing he had an erection, even when we otherwise would have left our positions.”
“When we shot the sex scene Noel had an erection from the start. He was … on top of me in the bed. When he first took down his trousers and pants, I felt his penis land on my pubic area. I tried to move myself up in the bed slightly so there would be distance between our genitals, but then his penis was touching me in-between my legs right at the entry of my vagina.”
“Then Noel announced to the crew in the room that they should all leave because he said, ‘we need to rehearse’. The crew all left and were waiting outside the door of the room. Noel got off me to one side and was lying next to me. We were both sat up slightly leaning on our elbows. He lifted up the blanket to show his erect penis and was insisting in a hushed but forceful voice that I must look at it. He was saying things like ‘it’s massive, everyone’s told me it’s big’ and that ‘you have to look, you want to look at it, look at it’. It wasn’t even a question of whether I wanted to; he was demanding it. I felt panicked and shocked and was saying ‘no, no, I don’t want to’. I was absolutely adamant that I would not look, and I did not look.”
“My penis was not exposed during the sex scene, as I did not remove my trousers or underpants which were slightly lowered to give the illusion that my penis was exposed. I was wearing a nylon sock over my penis. I supported myself on my left leg throughout the scene, to prevent my penis falling over Penelope’s private area. I endeavoured not to touch Penelope’s private area or general body with my penis, whilst trying to make the scene look realistic. The scene was shot for approximately 10 seconds.”
“The more people they’re trying to reach out to, the more someone might say, ‘Well, yeah, he commented on my bum’ or whatever. But whatever, I’d just say sorry … And if a bunch of people go, ‘he commented on my bum’, or ‘he mentioned my tits’ it’s like, why do you need to take it this far? I’ll just say sorry to you. Tell me and I’ll be like, I’m so sorry. You’re right, I said that, I was wrong. I’m fucking sorry.”
“30. During filming, the Claimant attempted to kiss [Anna Kaiser] on her lips on a number of occasions. On each occasion, [Ms Kaiser] tried to avoid the kiss but the Claimant persisted in attempting to kiss [Ms Kaiser] despite this and despite [Ms Kaiser] trying to deter him by saying she had a boyfriend.”
“Paragraph 30 is denied. The Claimant did not behave as alleged. He did not attempt to kiss [Ms Kaiser] on the lips and to persist doing so when she tried to avoid him doing so.”
“Noel Clarke played one of the lead roles, a character called Mikey. He was generally chatty on set. At first I thought this was a good thing, since he was one of the actors and I was in a very junior role. When he arrived in the morning or when I first saw him each day, he would greet me and, on several occasions, try to pull me in with an arm before going in to peck me on the lips. As I recall, I pulled away every time and I can’t remember if he ever actually succeeded at kissing me this way. I think this happened around a handful of times. At first it was cheeky but persistent, but it became less playful and his attitude became less friendly after I avoided it each time. My reaction each time, though I didn’t say it in so many words, was ‘oh, not this again’. To try to deter Noel from continuing to attempt to kiss me in this way, I told him I couldn’t do it because I had a boyfriend.”
“Did you include Noel’s sexual harassing of female film crew members on set? #metoo I love a lot of the guardian, but seeing an article about Noel in praising tones… It’s beyond hurtful for people who had to deal with his behaviour.”
“… about 3 months ago I posted a tweet under a Guardian article tweet which was praising Noel for something, saying that it was hard for survivors of his harassing behaviour to read about him in praising tones. A group of survivors of Noel’s harassment and assault got in touch with me because of that about a week ago …”
“Thank you for your email which was so open, non-judgemental and nicely worded. I’m sorry to hear how awful he made you feel. And ashamed to admit my memory of that period is foggy at best- I’ve grown up a lot since then, and no longer work on those kind of films. The culture was pretty gross across the board. The thing is I was a young [redacted] girl and did a lot of inappropriate flirting, had lots of wild nights out and generally behaved in a way I wouldn’t dream of doing now. I’m aware that I was favoured by Noel, when you’re working with the cast like that there is a sense of intimacy often that feels unthreatening- so he didn’t bully me, and perhaps I don’t remember those specific incidents because I don’t recall feeling threatened or harassed by him. I haven’t actually seen him for 12 years and don’t feel comfortable testifying to something I don’t remember- which is not to say I condone the behaviour you describe. And of course, I fully support any human being that has something they need to express. I just can’t remember- I keep wracking my brains. I don’t think I slept much on that production and I’m just so sorry that in all honesty I can’t corroborate anything. I’m sorry not to be able to give you greater support, but I don’t have any complaint of my own against him. …”
“I thought it was odd and I was not 100% sure it was consensual, because when she let me kind of watch it and she told me, see it is not that bad, it just felt off to me that someone would say that about that at work.”
“my responsibility was doing the clapper board to synchronise sound and picture. It has to clap together in the camera so that it can take the still image and match it to the sound recording and if you put something in the clapper board, it does not hit so you cannot synchronise. You have to do it again cleanly.”
“I told her my memory of what had happened on that set with Noel, and she wrote it down to the best of her ability. Then she showed it to me.”
“She told me that she had, and I later spoke to that person, CJS 1, to see if they were able to corroborate her story. I remember that CJS 1 recalled details of the alleged incident that they said [Ms Kaiser] had told them and detailed how she was upset in recent years about there having been no consequences for Mr Clarke’s actions.”
“Noel was directing this scene. At one point he had the camera positioned right behind me when I had to remove my knickers. … Noel was sitting behind the camera, behind my bottom, and the crew were mostly standing behind me, too. I was acutely conscious of this and so tried to take the knickers off without bending over too much. By this point, I was expecting to show my naked body upright – being bent over in such an exposing and vulnerable position had never been discussed. Noel was telling me to bend over, repeating things like ‘bend over further, come on’ and ‘do it properly’. I was clearly very uncomfortable and resisting doing this, I was doing the strip tease as requested and this extra request did not feel necessary. He repeated these comments until I bent over further and further until I was bent completely over with my bum in the air. Form this position, my vulva would have been visible to him personally and I presume at close range on camera. I felt humiliated and totally powerless.”
“Quite possibly. That would mean I was directing the movie which, as my job as director would be to do, so if she had not bent properly, then I would be asking her to bend properly for the reasons that it maybe did not look good on the screen. She might have looked like a flamingo or I might have wanted her to look like a flamingo and she might have looked like an ostrich at that point or whatever. The point is if it did not look the way the co-director and I wanted it to look, I am well within my right to ask it to be done the way that the director wanted it to be done. That is called directing.”
“And then I was told to bend over, bend over further, come on, and at each point I bent over a little bit, and then he said, bend over further. And I paused and it was the pausing that provoked him to give the next direction, because unbeknownst to me he wanted me to bend right over so my bum was in the air.”
“During the shoot, I became aware that Noel must have been watching the rushes of the stripping scene in which he made me bend over and in which my vulva was on show and allowing others to see them. One day, I was in the back of a car being driven onto set by [a] driver/runner who had not been on set for the filming of the stripping scene, and he made a jokey comment to me about the scene, referring to it as something along the lines of ‘saucy’ and it inferred that he had seen it. My stomach dropped and I felt incredibly embarrassed, and I was horrified to think that Noel had captured those angles and was allowing other people to watch them without my consent.”
“I have never heard of a director not having any visible evidence of what is being shot until the end. That does not make any sense to me.”
“she believed Clarke was sharing rushes with various people on set: at least 1 driver and other male crew. She thought Clarke was doing this between days of filming and then the respective crew who had seen the rushes would be audibly discussing the women they’d seen on the rushes, having watched them without consent, and would then make comments of a sexual nature towards these women on set. The comments were provocative and hinted at ‘can we have sex?’ [‘Mila’] told me the girls on set would talk with one another about the sharing of rushes and the comments they were receiving as a result, and the whole atmosphere on set was ‘off’. None of the people looking at the rushes were women. The people Clarke was sharing them with were always men.”
“There were no rushes that day and I did not show the rushes to anyone, because there were none to show.”
“there is a sort of thing in film, you know, at any moment, you can go, ‘Actually, I do not feel comfortable doing this’. It is a sex scene, it is people getting naked, you do not have to do it. … If somebody says ‘No, I do not feel comfortable doing it’, what do you suggest you do? You cannot force somebody to simulate a sex scene, and nor would I want to, and nor would it be right to.”
“When we finished the lunch, I got up to go to the bathroom. Out of the blue Noel asked me, since I was going there, to take a photo of my ‘pussy’ – for him. He said he loved photos of women’s vaginas.”
“I do not recall this. If I made that comment, what, 16 years’ ago, I am not a perfect guy, I am just not, I do not want to pretend I am. I do not recall making that comment and I do not recall meeting her. I really genuinely do not. If I made that comment, Mr Millar, and she can come here and show I made that comment, I wish we were not in court over it, but I am happy to apologise if that is the case, but I do not remember meeting her, I do not remember making that comment…”
“Kayas was sitting next to me and Noel told him to move out of way and came to sit next to me. He grabbed my leg under the table and squeezed my thigh – he put his hands in-between my legs in a sexual way. It was very quick but he did this several times. I didn’t know how to react as I was totally inexperienced. I did nothing. I froze up as I wasn’t expecting this.”
“Just after those photos had been taken, Noel moved his hand down to my bum and squeezed it. I felt shocked but I had to hide my reaction because Noel had told me so many times to keep things secret.”
“showed me a photo on his phone and pretended it was another merchandise picture but it was actually a photo of his erect penis. I froze as I did not expect this. I had to play along that I was looking at pictures of promotional items and said something like ‘it’s very nice’ and kept a straight face to keep up the pretence…”
“this was the first time when I thought, ‘Oh, maybe the things she mentioned previously had affected her’. So, what I did, instead of being, as they call me, predatory … Once I realised that actually some of the trauma she had described to me had affected her in a way that I found her slightly odd, I did what any normal person should do and started distancing themselves.”
“Not bad… 1st was better. prefer it going in the pussy than getting sucked busy yes…what i want to see is you closer and ramming that thing in your pussy till you come, not just rubbing it on the outside and in positions. from behind on you side etc. pussy looks nice though, just waan see it stretched and filled.”
“At one point, Noel started talking about [‘Ivy’], who was a friend of Jahannah, and whom Noel had told me he had slept with. Jahannah and [‘Ivy’] had told me Noel was lying and I had believed them. In that meeting, when I told Noel I believed my friends, he told me he could prove me wrong and showed me the photos he taken of [‘Ivy’]. … He scrolled through around 2 pages of thumbnails, so I would estimate there would have been in the high tens of photos at least. When he opened the files I saw a photo of [‘Ivy’] in a hotel room. The photo was taken from behind and showed her backside – she was naked and it was very close up. Another photo showed her face, which was how I knew it was her. Noel was a bit obsessed with [‘Ivy’] and was making remarks to me about how perfect her body was, and pointing out with detailed commentary what was perfect about it, specifically her privates.”
“As I understood it from Johannah, when Gina later then met me, she realised I was the girl she had seen in the photos. When Johannah described what Gina had seen in the photos, I believed that she had correctly identified me because she was able to correctly describe the location of a tattoo that she had never seen on me, for example. Her observations convinced me that the photos Noel had shown her were of me. I was horrified and disappointed that Noel had shown naked pictures of me to other people. It felt degrading.”
“… it was only when Gina said she had seen the photos, that I then spoke to Ivy in person and said, ‘Hey, I have been standing up for you but Noel is saying that he slept with you, Gina has said she has seen footage – photos’, sorry, and that is when Ivy burst into tears and told me she had, in fact, and that she was – she had never told me because she was really embarrassed, understandably so, and it happened a long time ago, and Noel was telling the truth.”
“She had at the time a very aesthetic, she is a beautiful lady…I would not say like a Venus, you look at art, you like things that are beautiful, she is beautiful”
“In the time I knew Noel, he enlisted me on several occasions to set up lunch or dinner dates with women he had met through work or on sets. He would ask me to book a hotel room at the same time, as he intended to sleep with them. He referred to these as ‘missions’. He would ask me to make the relevant arrangements and pay up front so that there was no financial trail so his wife wouldn’t see the bills, and then reimburse me later in cash.”
“Noel took photos of [‘Ivy’] in the hotel room when they slept together. Shortly afterwards he showed me a photo and sent it to me by email. The photo showed her standing up, with full frontal nudity, looking at the camera. He asked me to save the photo and to put it into a new email to send back to him straight away, and to then delete the original email. This was so he could keep the photo but it would look as though I had sent it. I did not know in advance that he would send this email; it just appeared in my inbox.”
“I received a phone call from solicitors asking about an issue, scheduling issue from the film Legacy, I could not recall the specific dates, so I looked at my computer, from an old computer, so I found a hard drive, plugged it in and found a schedule with regards to the enquiry. So I passed that enquiry on. While I had the document open, because it was an old USB hard drive, I thought I would search JPG, as a Jpeg image and let it run on the computer, and after sort of scrolling up quite some way, the photographs appeared to which I thought I needed to let Wiggin know that was the case.”
“The wrap party for The Knot was held at a hotel in the West End of London. Louise Dylan, who was an actor and producer on The Knot, was at the party. I had quite liked her and I had told Noel this. I recall an incident at the party. Louise’s parents were sitting at a table and she was standing, leaning forward over the table to talk to them. I was standing about 10 feet from her, and she had her back to me. Noel went up to her on her left side and said hello to her parents but at the same time put his right hand between her legs from behind, groping her. As I recall she was wearing a long evening dress but he still managed to push his hand through the back of her legs towards her genitals. Louise did not appear to me to react at all – she looked frozen. The incident stuck with me because Noel turned around and smiled at me – I took that to mean he wanted to show he could have anything he wanted.”
“The Claimant has never committed any of the alleged acts to me, nor has he ever engaged in behaviour which involves sexual assault, sexual harassment, bullying, professional misconduct, non-consensual groping or touching towards me at any point.”
“In this class Noel told the students he wanted to challenge us. He suggested undressing or being naked, referencing us committing to the role and pushing ourselves out of our comfort zone. He heavily implied that the further we went the more favourably we would be viewed. The takeaway was that we would be at a disadvantage if we held back. Noel told us that professional auditions would involve doing things one wouldn’t be comfortable with. He emphasised very strongly that it was important to do it and gave the impression that anyone serious about their work would be willing to do it.”
“I psyched myself up to make an effort but I wasn’t prepared to take all my clothes off. I went and borrowed a t-shirt from a friend. I replaced my jeans, top and bra with the t-shirt. It was quite long and partially covered my bottom. I wanted to keep covered up because I was wearing a thong. I had a massive rush of fear but told myself that I was actually being brave. Noel singled me out for praise because I had gone the furthest in terms of removing clothes. … he pointed out those of us that went the furthest and praised us.”
“opened the session and told us that it was about challenging ourselves and pushing ourselves out of our comfort zone, and suggested that to do that we push ourselves and improvise a scene that involved getting ready for bed and it was kind of up to us how far we took that. So, it was not, he did not tell us that we had to get undressed or get totally naked, but it was implied that if we pushed ourselves and went as far as we could, then we, in a real life situation, that we would be seen more favourably against other auditionees if we took it further, basically. And he kind of said, well, you do not have to, it is up to you, you do not have to do it, but if someone else is going to come in and do it, then they would get the part, sort of thing.”
“The improvisation that was asked of them was an improvisation where they get ready for bed and within this improvisation -- first of all, they were men and women, all adults, they could decide just how much they wanted to get ready for bed and how much they did not want to get ready for bed.”
“The class was called ‘Facing your Fears’ and it was intended to address and help students with anxieties about acting roles. The students were all adults. As many of the students’ fears related to being required to be partially dressed for roles, part of the workshop was to normalise the removal of their outer clothing and to make them feel that they could do so in a safe environment without being judged or analysed. However, our client categorically denies that as part of this he encouraged or forced anyone to be naked.”
“27. During filming in [redacted year] and in front of another member of the production team [Hugh Sherlock] the Claimant put his hands on Isla’s hips and pulled her towards him before saying ‘I know what you want, you want my dick inside you’ and touching her breasts. The Claimant then said to [Hugh Sherlock] ‘that’s what they all want, they want my dick inside them’. 28. Isla did not consent to this touching, which was sexual, and gave the Claimant no reason to think she was consenting.”
“This went on for a while until Noel came out of the back room clearly angry, shouting things like ‘don’t tell me what do to, what are you going to do? Fire me? We’re already halfway through filming, you can’t afford to replace me, what are you going to do, get another actor, you can’t tell me shit’. He completely kicked off in front of everyone. The producers came out looking sheepish. He kept to himself a bit more in general after that but continued to be unpleasant to be around.”
“Hugh might not be lying but i literally can’t remember in terms of what he said Noel was inappropriate towards me but not in that specific way i can remember I have worked with him on a few projects over the years One job he was totally professional and one he wasn’t After the first time of working with him – he seemed to be slightly changed in how he was acting It’s difficult one He could have said it i have tried to block out what he said on that film. Bc it was horrendous in general. Being a young female in the industry you hear a lot of stuff. Made sexually inappropriate remarks. He did. Dont remember that specifically happening but thats not to say it didn’t. There were so many things he did. Showed me an inappropriate picture – those words and what he showed me would make sense Showed it to me – a dick pic – for those words it would make sense – dont specifically remember them. Not to say it didnt happen. Its normal. Happens all the time. It was when I started 15 yrs ago. I think he’s the worst that i’ve encountered. After work. showed it to me and said this is what you do to me. [was his erect penis.] These words appear in square brackets in the transcript. Ive blocked it out. Was a hard film. Probably true he did say them. Probably just blocked it out. It was just gruesome He is a bit of a pest is how i would describe him. I didnt think about it. Laughed it off. Hearing all the stories you know you’re not a one off. On the next film – he was nowhere near like that. Told someone about it at the time – [REDACTED] He probably did. I really tried to block it out. I dont remember much of filming. Bc i really tried to block the film out. I hated filming it hated working alongside it. I do remember hugh not being happy about it. … He goes in charming and nice and then goes into that as it goes along. That’s how he gets away with it. There is a nice side to noel. And quite a carign side. But also this dark side to him. He targeted me rather than her. Happy to corroborate stuff happened but dont want to have name out there specifically. Definitely showed me picture – 100%. You dont really forget a picture like that – thrust in front of your face. Definitely. I’ve just blocked it out. Don’t want to think abou that movie and what happened ot it.”
“A casting director [i.e. Ms Chand] who was present at James’s audition said there was ‘absolutely no way’ Clarke would have covertly filmed it, even without her knowledge. ‘He’s always been a good guy,’ she said.”
“the actors were asked to wait or change downstairs and Ms Chand would go down to call them for each audition and come back upstairs with them. In those in-between periods, Noel put 1 of his 2 phones somewhere in the room to record the audition and re-started the recording for each one. Noel put the phone in different places for different auditions. I recall there were big scatter cushions on the sofa and I think he propped a phone against those and may also have put it on a bookshelf during one audition. He did it in a way that the actors wouldn’t have noticed. There was plenty of time in-between auditions to do this. I believe Ms Chand would not have known Noel did this. She was outside the room when he set up his phone to film each time. … While in the room, I told Noel he shouldn’t do what he was doing. He batted away my comment and just told me to shut up. I called Marc Small as I left the casting and told him what had happened. I don’t remember exactly what I said to Marc, but I remember how I felt: I was in disbelief at what had taken place. I had known Noel for years, I had been on holiday with him and been best man at his wedding, and he had now done this in front of me. I was angry – my job would be immediately gone or at least on the line if I made a fuss about the secret filming and I could see all the possible consequences of what he had done. It put me in an impossible position. I felt shock and disbelief that Noel had crossed this line, especially given the reservations already expressed by Jahannah, who had decided to trust Noel when agreeing to proceed with the audition. I also felt disappointment in myself that I allowed it to go ahead and I didn’t stop it.”
“Davie phoned me shortly after the final round auditions, I think the same evening of one of the casting audition dates, and was very agitated. I think I was the only person at the time that he could talk to about what happened that day. Davie was worked up and told me that Noel had been filming the nude auditions without the actors’ knowledge. Davie told me that Noel had been setting up the camera on his phone to record when Urvashi left the room in-between auditions to collect the next person. Davie said Noel had put the phone on the sofa or on some cushions. I understood that Davie meant that Noel was using the cushions to mask or hide the filming. Davie said he felt uncomfortable and had told Noel this and told him that he shouldn’t do it. He said Noel told him not to be stupid, asked him what his problem was and told him maybe he was gay if [he] didn’t want the filming to happen. Davie told me he wished I had been there because he believed Noel would not have been so brazen to have done it.”
“Then Noel showed me the video of Jahannah James doing the naked audition for Legacy. Again, he talked about her body, and went on about how amazing her boobs were and how she’d ruined her look on that occasion with her short, brown hairstyle. She was completely naked in the video. I couldn’t see anyone else in the audition room in the video of Jahannah, but I remember the footage was taken from a funny angle, like a phone held from a low position out of sight. I remember Noel saying something about it being sneaky and told me not to tell Jahannah. [‘Florence’] had also done the naked Legacy audition and Noel had footage of hers too, which I remember seeing. Noel was giggling and seemed very proud of himself when he showed me these files. It shocked me that he had them and that he had hidden them well. I remember saying something along those lines to him and to Jason, who was also there. … I didn’t work on the Legacy production, though it says on the IMDB website that I was an assistant producer. I just helped with some of the marketing during the distribution and release of the film.”
“In 2017, I believe in the Spring but possibly later, Gina, Johannah, myself, and our friend Luca went to a pub in Herne Hill called the Prince Regent. We sat in a booth at the back of the pub behind the bar. Gina had left Unstoppable by then. It was at this meeting that Gina shared what Noel had told her about his hard drive with the pictures of women on it, including images of Johannah. Gina told us about the hard drive Noel kept and that she had seen images of Johannah naked in an audition, which I understood was for Noel’s film Legacy.”
“Gina had moved to a new house in North London. Since we hadn’t seen each other for a little while, we met at the Prince Regent pub in Herne Hill to catch up. I believe this would have been in around Spring of 2017 but I am unsure of the exact time. Our friends Laura Pugh and Luca were also there. Gina had by then left Unstoppable, which was a huge development for her because she had been so unhappy there. … At the pub we were talking about Noel in general: his cheating and womanising, which led us to talk about my friend who had slept with Noel and the fact he kept nude photos of her on his hard drive and bragged about it. The conversation turned to Noel’s stash of photos. Gina told us that she had seen a video recording of my naked audition for Legacy, which Noel had personally stored. She apologised for not telling me earlier but said she didn’t feel safe opening up issues around Noel while she had worked at Unstoppable and felt she needed to leave the company first. Gina first said I needed to know that Noel had a video of me on his hard drive. Initially, I couldn’t understand how this could have been the case, as nothing had ever happened between me and Noel. Gina told me Noel had secretly recorded the naked audition and shown it to her. I asked her how she could be sure and asked what she’d seen. She recounted that I was wearing a black dress which I took off during the scene, and that I was tanned at the time and had short brown hair. When I first met Gina in 2014, I had long blonde hair and have done since. She had never seen me with the hairstyle I had in the Legacy audition in 2013…”
“Noel was obsessed with ‘aesthetic’ vaginas. He would talk a lot about how he liked them to look and made derogatory remarks about the appearance of vaginas that he didn’t like. When I found out that he had naked footage of me, I was anxious he would make comments about my vagina to other people, which would obviously have been humiliating.”
“Well up to you. either ignore. Or just say I’m lovely and she shouldn’t contact you please.”
“In around Spring 2017, but possibly later that year and after I had left Unstoppable, I met up with Jahannah James and two other friends, Laura Pugh and Luca. We had all lived together previously and we organised a catch-up in a pub in Herne Hill. I had told Jahannah that I was leaving Unstoppable, but she didn’t know about what Noel had done towards me on the LA trip. We had all started talking about Noel. I knew that Noel had nude audition footage of Jahannah on his hard drive as he had shown it to me before. I had not come to the meet-up expecting to tell her about this footage, but I suddenly got so anxious when she was talking about Noel. Knowledge of the video and also my LA experience were totally eating me up inside. … I had been incredibly worried for a long time about what Noel would do to me if I told Jahannah about the filming of the nude audition. I realised that I could be honest with her now because I had left Unstoppable. I told Jahannah that I had seen the nude footage of her on Noel’s hard drive. She instantly burst into tears and believed me straight away – she knew that I had never met her with the haircut she had in that audition. I was also able to tell her details about the room she auditioned in. Jahannah said she felt totally violated and taken advantage of – Noel was someone she looked up to like a big brother, and he’d filmed her and lied about it. I remember her saying that she wanted to get hold of the hard drive so the footage wouldn’t go anywhere. I was very concerned about how distraught Jahannah was. I remember both of us crying and I was consoling her.”
“Powell told four people about Clarke’s alleged secret filming, all of whom confirmed the conversation to the Guardian. They include James, her friend, whom she told about the incident in the winter of 2017, in a pub in south London.”
“In early January 2018, [Ms Whyte] and I met for brunch on Kensington High Street, in an attempt to make amends following the aforementioned tension, despite the fact that she remained close friends with [Ms Powell]. At the end of the brunch, [Ms Whyte] made an obscure and worrying comment: ‘I’m glad we made up because we were planning to get you. We were going to try and stitch you up like a Harvey.’ When I queried this, she suddenly became nervous and changed the subject, by saying ‘just be careful’. I immediately told Mr Maza and my wife about this comment which I found disturbing.”
“When I read this statement, I had to ask what ‘like a Harvey’ meant because I did not get the reference and it was explained to me ‘like Harvey Weinstein’. I did not say this. …My intention clearly was to make as if nothing had changed until I was ready or in space to confront him. … What I did say was I mentioned to Noel that in the industry, I had come across people that when his name came up, stories were coming out that were not good.”
“I warned him, the last time I physically saw him, was a few, er two, years ago, and I warned him, I was just like, Noel, just so you know, your name when it’s mentioned on sets, and the stories that are coming around, I was like, just be careful, because I was like, people are clocking onto the fact that you cheat and he got quite angry with me and said to me I made him feel like Jeffrey Epstein. And I was like, well, that’s just projection.”
“When I left the dinner, I recall feeling as though I should not have entertained [‘Imogen’s] advances or engaged in suggestive conversations with her. I recall calling Jason straight after the dinner, as he was good friends with [‘Imogen’], to tell him about our conversation. I was upset that I had potentially ruined a friendly and positive professional relationship.”
“…Smoking hot pic this is. You are a hot girl, with a spectacular bod, beautiful face and the prettiest ***** and this pick [sic] made certain things very hard. …”). ii) In his oral evidence regarding the naked photographs of ‘Ivy’, Mr Clarke described her repeatedly as “beautiful” (see para 344 above). He wrote to ‘Maya’ on27 May 2018 , “You are amazing, and beautiful”
“I accept that he believes that the allegations may be true. He may still believe that.”
“Q. It was not just the£3,000 , was it? You went from 9% to 5% of the profit share, did you not? You wanted that as well as the£3,000 ? A. I really do not remember the percentage. I remember just, I do not remember. I would have drawn a line under that, I would not have cared about the percentage. I was lucky, I was happy just to be keeping my credit, because when I did go back and say, if we are going to play that game, then my credit started to come into question. I was told that I was going to lose my credit on the film entirely. So, with that, I signed it and ---- Q. You wanted a percentage of the profits, did you not, which could have run to tens if not hundreds of thousands of pounds? A. No, I never asked for any percentage of the profits on any of the films that we did. Q. Really, Ms Powell? You do not recall asking for a percentage, your lawyers asking for a percentage, Wiggin asking for a percentage? A. I remember being in the original contract that they had done in, that had been drawn up in that January, but it was not a deciding factor, I really…. Q. Do you recall asking for a percentage? A. No, I do not remember asking for a percentage. Q. I suggest you did and you instructed your lawyers to ask for a percentage, Wiggin. You really do not recall? A No, I really do not remember the percentage amount. I just remember the 3,000.”
“I have heard through a friend of a friend that you are collecting stories to build a case. I was in his inner circle for 4 years, he assaulted me in 2016 and I managed to finally cut him out of my life a year later. I know of 9 others that may contribute if they were made aware and felt they could safely come forward. Obviously this is hard, I would like to keep anonymous and I’d need to check your validity before I felt I could elaborate.”
“The Guardian is conducting an investigation into the sexual abuse, harassment and bullying conducted by Noel Clarke. We are working with and led by the survivors of NC. The number is VERY high, with more women coming forward each day. Everything is anonymous and treated in the strictest confidence and the survivors have bravely communicated to us their often very traumatic stories. Due to the seriousness and volume of allegations, The Guardian are now investigating the matter in the same way Ronan Farrow did with Weinstein, and BAFTA are now involved too. We understand receiving an email of an anonymous account is odd. But if there is anything you can contribute about Noel Clarke, or Jason Maza, please contact Lucy Osborne at the Guardian directly: [Ms Osborne’s email address] We really hope we can work together to heal and seek justice for all those affected. Thank you”
“Q. You wanted as much negative press for Noel Clarke to put nails in his coffin. You were driven by malice. You were driven, I suggest, by hate; that is right? A. As I said, I had really put a line in the sand. I was building my life and myself back up. I was trying really hard to distance myself and just to get my life back, really. When I heard things swirling around, I mean, I think I was one of [the] last to come on board. I saw it as, because I had heard – through friends and through actresses, I had heard that Noel was potentially starting to actually grow up a bit and behave himself, particularly on Bulletproof, so I generally thought, ‘Okay, he is trying to change, he is a changed man’ and then I heard later stories through these women and realised that he was still doing what he was doing, he did not feel any remorse, that everyone was being fooled by it still, and I felt like I wanted to prevent him from hurting any other young women. I do not think he should be around young women in the film industry. I do not think he should be around young women in any industry.”
“I was not doing everything I could. I was incredibly engrossed in my own grief and trauma at the time and it took a long time for me to pull myself together to be able to do anything around -- to be honest, I found Jahannah's strength and courage in that, and her conviction in wanting to tell her story so powerful and inspirational, that I instantly realised that the moment I had sent these e-mails to these women, there was no me remaining off the record like I had wanted, and that I needed to action, where I put my words and follow up with my name in the forefront to try and rewrite some of the guilt that I had felt so much throughout the years. It was just, really, guilt that I was complicit and seeing the things that Noel was doing and I was essentially his shield. Really, it ate me up for many, many years. So this was my way of saying, ‘No, I am putting action behind my words’.”
“Q. You openly and often engaged in sexual conversation with both Mr. Clarke and Mr. Maza, did you not? A. They would often talk about sex at work. It was the thing that I quickly realised that would make, that would keep Noel happy and that if he was in a bad mood, if you switched it to sex chat, or if he wanted to go there, I would let it because it would mean I would not be in trouble or that he would not be -- the focus would not be on me and what I was doing. Q. You engaged in sexual conversations, did you not, freely? A. Not freely, but with Noel and Jason because they started the conversations, yes. I never started those conversations. Q. You would brag about your sexual exploits to Mr. Clarke, would you not? A. No. I was very sexually inexperienced. I was very introverted, very shy. I had had a horrendous first experience in my early 20s and had not had sex since. I had told this to Noel pretty early on. I remember even in Scottish Mussel talking to him about it because I wanted him to know that I just would never, ever go there. For all the chat that he could have around me, I was never going to go there … Q. You engaged openly right at the beginning of your working and friendship relationship with Jason and Noel, throughout the time you worked, and even when you left Unstoppable, you would still brag about your sexual exploits, would you not? A. No, I would use it as a defence to calm Noel down and to keep him sweet. I felt really uncomfortable. I felt like it was necessary. It was like a defence mechanism to get through the day because it was so much around me.”
“I walked into that meeting very fearful because I had definitely left the company by that point and I felt like I had to keep it sweet, keep it on the best terms as possible. I really did not want to aggravate Noel in any way because I was worried about what he would do.”
“Noel told the stripper what to do; he was very prescriptive. I think he even said something like ‘put your titties in her face’. I didn’t even pretend to have a good time. I remember making eye contact with the stripper and thinking ‘neither of us want to be here right now’.”
“I told Noel that Jason had got a bit leery and touched my thigh in the car that weekend and that I thought he had been a bit drunk. I told Noel I had felt uncomfortable and had dismissed Jason’s advances, and expressed that I was proud that I had put this boundary down with Jason. Noel’s reaction to me telling him about the incident with Jason was along the lines of ‘that’s not fair – how come Jason gets to touch you and I don’t’. I remember being a bit shocked and saying that Jason was drunk, and I would not be letting it happen again. But I then laughed it off. Then Noel began talking about how he liked me in my bikini and how he could see through my bathing suit, and could see what the outline of my vagina looked like. I kept looking straight ahead and, for a few moments, didn’t realise Noel had pulled his erect penis out while he was driving. I was just so shocked when I looked round and realised. He then looked into my eyes and then looked at his penis and said ‘go on’. I moved away from him towards the window and said something like ‘what are you doing? Put it away’. I said to him ‘we’re on the way to your wife and kids’. Noel laughed but it was awkward laughter. I did not feel safe after that and stayed plastered to the side of the car for the rest of the journey.”
“My argument is that actually I was only with her for one day after Mr Maza left and the next day, which is evidenced by my texts in disclosure, she went off to meet a friend for whatever and I went to the outlet with my wife. So this two-day nonsense is impossible because she was only there with me for one day after Mr Maza left. …what I am telling you is they are an impossibility because when Mr Maza left and I picked her up on that day, we had the lunch and we had the meetings and the next day, she was out with a friend, a man, and I went to the outlet with my family.”
“I recall attending a lunch with Chavo Guerrero, an American professional wrestler and actor, at Soho House, on Sunset Boulevard. … Chavo was at Soho House when we got there, and we left him there to go to a meeting. I do not recall whether this was at my US manager’s, as [Ms Powell] suggests.”
“Gina didn’t speak much and sat in a corner. Noel told her to go and get coffee or lunch for everyone, so she left the room not long after I arrived. When she left the room, Noel said to the editor in front of me in a bragging tone that he would be taking Gina away soon ‘to fuck her’.”
“And he and Aaron [the DoP] were giggling about how Noel had got really turned on during the scene and how it got really hot and steamy and felt real and he tried to put or did put a finger in. And they were like laughing about it.”
“Noel always used to try to hit on ‘Alice’. He had repeatedly remarked on the fact her husband was black and said to her that’s what she liked and he could ‘do that’ for her. She would bat these comments away. On this occasion, Noel was telling her that he had a massive penis, ‘like your husband does’ and she was responding with ‘whatever, no you don’t’ so then he pulled his flaccid penis out in front of her. Her reaction was something like ‘put it away’ but I don’t recall her exact words.”
“In the context of this discussion, Alice made a joke about the assumed size of my penis, to which I jokingly responded, making a comparison between her husband’s penis and mine, given Alice’s husband is also black like myself. Everyone laughed, including Alice and [Gina], and Ella dared me to expose my penis, so that this could be photographed and added to the ‘Dick Detectives’ group chat. To continue with this line of humour, I undid my belt, and pretended that my brown belt strap was my penis. This appeared to entertain everybody. I did not reveal my penis at any point, during this conversation or at any other time. We were in the street, and this would not have been appropriate.”
“Friends with CLARKE since12 May 2015 ”
“Q. We can see a fake date at the bottom of the screen;12th May 2015 . Do you see that? A. Yes. Q. How do we know this is Mr. Clarke because it only says ‘Clarke’? It does not show the telephone number or any contact details? A. Well that was his Snapchat profile that he sent me this dick pic from. … A. I am also very sure it is his because he later sent me snaps from the same account of him and Gina.”
“(1) A party shall be deemed to admit the authenticity of a document disclosed to him under Part 31 (disclosure and inspection of documents) unless he serves notice that he wishes the document to be proved at trial. (2) A notice to prove a document must be served – (a) by the latest date for serving witness statements; or (b) within 7 days of disclosure of the document, whichever is later.”
“What I can remember is that Noel sent me a completely unexpected and uninvited photo of a naked erect penis which I presumed was his – a so-called ‘dick pic’. I was shocked that he sent this to me. I knew if I took a screenshot of the picture he would know I had done it, as the app facilitated this, so I instinctively asked the friend I was with – who was just in the next room – to take a photo of the screen with her phone. I was with my friend and roommate Hilde Sonesen. She also went to Bond University and knows Gina. We were at home in Oslo. I was in the living room and Hilde was in the kitchen. I received the dick pic, called her over and she took a photo of my phone screen with her phone. I later sent a copy of the picture to the Guardian and the metadata says it dates to4 June 2015 at 19:30. As far as I recall, I did not tell Gina about this at the time.”
“Hi Noel, Just wanted to thank you again for the weekend. And thank you for the tickets, really appreciate it. Had a great time! And please think of me if you should need extra help on your projects. I of course would love to work with you and your team one day if possible. Have a great day! Regards, Synne Seltveit / Producer”
“Hey Synne. Great meeting you. Would love to work with you one day. Glad you enjoyed the day. NC”
“Also. Sent you some snapchats. Have a look. NC”
“Noel been sending me snaps btw, asking me to send pics of my ‘blond’ pussy’ + sending me a pic of a big black cock (…) That man is crazy! Haha”
“Ooh enjoy Barcelona! Hahaha! OMG! He mentioned you emailed him and I was like ‘oh really that’s nice’ ha. Did he wrote you back?”
“Yes he did. Second email to say he sent me some snaps and that I should have a look at them. Snaps of you guys walking home and one of them was saying something like nice to meet me and the other asking for a pic of me. And also a pic of you two! So cute!”
“Had a closer look at the dates of the pictures here and the timeframe I told you is wrong, or I don’t get it to match up. I got the dickpic in the beginning of June 2015, so I must have gotten that after I meet Noel the first time. Or at least that is the date of the picture taken. I was sure it was after Glasgow in late July but maybe I got more than one dickpic from him… Wouldn’t surprise me. …”
“Would be really weird to send me a dickpic a month earlier if we then hadn’t actually met? Or I don’t know. Sorry. Confusing.”
“316 …(d) It is further apparent, upon a clear inspection of the photograph, that this could not have been taken on the Snapchat application, as the photograph is crooked and the borders are not even. This photograph therefore appears to have been manipulated or fabricated.” “323 Whilst the Defendant has provided a screenshot of the alleged Snapchat, I also believe the photograph provided is likely to have been fabricated, as I could not have sent her this photograph in June 2015.”
“Q. Mr Clarke’s position is that when you actually analyse it, it is actually a fabricated photograph. It looks like it has been placed on a phone, a photo of a photo with a picture above. Do you know anything about that? A. No, it is not fabricated. I was – I can so clearly remember it because it put a reaction in me when I got it. I was in the living room and I instantly called my friend over to take a photo of my phone.”
“After the match was over we went out for the evening to a bar or club and Noel smacked my backside in a very entitled way – like he could just do what he wanted. I had not invited this and didn’t welcome it – I was unhappy about it. I shouldn’t have accepted it but at that time you would try not to make a fuss about things like this, especially with a work contact.”
“Q. You constantly engaged in sex talk when you were making that film, did you not? A. As set out, I do have a dirty mouth and have engaged in that sort of talk, but a lot of people do. It does not make me what they have set out. …”
“Very soon after we began working together on set, Noel made it clear he liked looking at my bum. He sang a lyric from the well known song, ‘Bootylicious’ a lot to me: ‘Cause my body too bootylicious for ya, babe’ and he would do a sassy kind of ‘mmhmm’ noise and look at my bum. A couple of times he said directly ‘you’ve got a nice arse’. There were looks or comments like this most days until it finally stopped.”
“Noel was the producer, director, writer and lead actor, and his personality is also very strong, very dominating and intimidating, and as a crew member and I was nowhere high up in my department, I am middle of the road when it comes to my position, I have been taught I do my job well by assisting the director whenever possible, having a good relationship with the director, which is very important … And no, I was not comfortable with the comments he was saying, but I judged it at the time that it was not worth causing a problem, potentially causing a problem, potentially breaking down the relationship that I was trying to build with him, by confronting him about it.”
“Feeling really upset baby! I just had to go through pictures with Noel from his personal collection of naked girls (some very graphic) for a picture that they want to see on a characters phone. These are real girls (not porn) who send him dirty photos. Gross thing is, he keeps them all!!!!!! I asked him what his wife thinks and he said she doesn’t know. I don’t want to use any of them because they are real people and it’s not fair on them! This whole production is so crude and gross and really exploits women and it just comes across as two blokes getting a jolly from writing all this naked girl stuff into the story & it’s not needed!! You know I hate that kind of men perving over girls thing anyway and I’m really struggling with it. I don’t like Noel at all!! I don’t like to be around men that perve over girls and make crude comments!! It’s not a very professional production so it just feels really wrong!!” “Just had a call from the producer about that photo and she said Noel has agreed that it’s not on to use an actual real girl so now trying to think what to do a[s] it’s first up tomorrow!!”
“…And today they had two really [unnecessary] naked girls, one playing with her boobs and one straddles a bloke and bends over totally naked bum facing camera! It’s [porn] basically!! … 17.40: “…They’ve got strippers to play the naked girls so u guess they [c]an do what they want. It’s just gross!!! …” 17:45: “All the girls stuff wouldn’t be that bad if it was handled professionally when the camera cuts but it’s not!! All the bloke SA’s are watching the monitor, then asking the girls for photos afterwards!! It’s sick!!!!!!!” 17:46: “I just can’t shake the feeling that it’s turned into a lot of guys on set getting their jollies from having naked girls play with themselves and bend over!!” 17:49: “Not really able to do my job to be honest. Just can’t stand it all!!! I just suddenly thought when the girl bent over and you could see up her asshole and pussy, what the hell am I working on!!! This is gross!” 17:50: “It’s suppose to be a 15 rating!!!” 17:51: “It jut Nowl [sic] being a dirty perve and it makes me feel so uncomfortable!!!”
“I remember that Noel kept some of the footage of the B-roll from Brotherhood, in particular material showing the strippers that had been hired to appear in that film. He had told me that it was easier to hire strippers rather than hiring actors. Noel showed this footage to me on his laptop. As I recall this was some time after the edit of the film in early 2016. When he showed me, he was expanding the image on the screen to focus in on the detail of an actor’s vagina in the shot. That footage should usually go in the editor’s bin.”
“On the day of filming the scene with naked supporting actors, when we broke for lunch, Noel asked for a word with me. We then had a discussion with him in the living room of the house we were using as a film set. [Gina Powell] and Jason Maza were also present but the conversation was with Noel and Jason. The meeting felt hostile and confrontational. Noel told me I had a bad attitude.”
“One day, we were late picking up Noel because Gina had been running late. When he got in the car, he immediately started shouting at me. We sat in silence for the rest of the journey to set. It felt horrible.”
“He absolutely screamed at us. I remember, unfortunately, it just feeling normal to me. He screamed at everybody on set. I regret not stepping in and saying anything, but he was screaming at both of us and it was virtually impossible to challenge him when he was like that.”
“The next morning, when I picked up Noel, we were driving along and we pulled up and he said something like ‘so I’ve got you this nurse role – what are you going to do for me?’ It wasn’t in a jokey tone; he said it very seriously. I realised he seriously meant he expected a sexual favour in return. I had no idea what to say. I said something like ‘I’m going to act really well in the role’. He responded with something like ‘well of course you’ll do that, but what are you going to do for me?’”
“Towards the end of the wrap party, I was in the women’s toilets. There was one other person there. Noel then came into the women’s toilets, the other girl left and a costume assistant from the production came in. She was very young, I would say about 18 years old. I went into a cubicle and, as I went to close the door, Noel opened it and came into it after me. I was at the back of what was quite a very small cubicle and he leaned against the door, facing me and blocking the way out. He pulled a condom out of his pocket and said something to the effect of ‘how about it then’. I said something about his wife and 3 kids, as I had seen them before on set. I can’t remember his response in precise words but it was something along the lines of ‘I don’t care’. His attitude in that moment changed. He went from friendly to defensive. I just felt huge pressure from him. I can’t remember how I got out of the cubicle. He must have moved to the side or something and I pushed past and somehow got away. He didn’t force himself on me and there was no physical contact as far as I can recall. As I left, he followed me out of the cubicle and went into the cubicle with the costume assistant.”
“I would never do that. I am not someone who would do that.”
“[Noel Clarke:] What was [‘Anita’s’] problem etc? [Noel Clarke:] ?? [Gina Powell:] Mother being sick, being sick herself, tired and you yelling at her. [Noel Clarke:] So she blaming me! For shouting at her on day 3 even though she worked 18 days after that! And you said what to her! [Gina Powell:] Partly yeah. She said she then was ill but also too embarrassed to come back and come to the wrap party. I just said that everyone was under pressure, I cried at something you said to me that when I look back at now I only cried because I was exhausted. Other than that I just listened. We very briefly talked about it. [Noel Clarke:] Well she’s fucking done! I hope she knows that. If you can’t be shouted at in a high pressure environment by someone under the most pressure with everyone depending on him then you’ve got no fucking sense. If she can’t see that then she’s absolutely done with me won’t be working on anything I work on and has just made my list of people I have no time for. [Gina Powell:] You don’t need to worry about working with her again. She’s quit script supervising.
“When women walked past our stand he rated them out of 10 for sexual attractiveness and made derogatory and disrespectful remarks. When a pregnant woman walked past, he said ‘10/10, would bang that, because you can’t put another baby in them’. I think he saw a second pregnant woman that day and commented similarly.”
“There was a semi-private mezzanine floor in the room with seats – similar to an upper circle in a theatre – and Noel suggested we go upstairs and have sex. He was saying ‘come on, let’s go, let’s go’. I think he said this at least 5 times. I said no and told him that I had a fiancé. He said ‘so what?’ and told me that I didn’t have to tell my fiancé. I was shocked that he would suggest this while we were both at work, especially to do so repeatedly after I had said ‘no’.”
“Well, Noel did proposition me several times, and was pointing up towards the mezzanine floor, so I can only assume that he was referring to that section when he repeatedly asked me to have sex with him. … he repeatedly pointed up to this area and said, ‘Come on, let’s go, let’s go, let’s have sex’.” “I have absolutely no motive to embellish or make up any of this. I have nothing to gain from being here. With respect to the court, I do not want to be here today. I am here today because I came forward out of genuine concern for other people and I am here today because I believe that it is the right thing to do.”
“On a couple of occasions, while still sitting at the table, Noel reached over and put his hand over my thigh and in-between my legs. He touched the outside of my leg and my inner thigh. This was completely different to the signal we had for any difficulties with guests and seemed flirtatious and sexual. The first time he did it I thought for a moment it could be the signal and he had touched me higher up my leg than intended. I moved my chair to an angle to avoid being touched again. The second time it was quite clear that he was not signalling and it was obviously inappropriate. I then had to move my chair further away from him to create enough distance to avoid it. Noel did this even while there were some women at the desk. I gave him a look that I thought clearly meant ‘pack it in’.”
“I was at the call back and he was in the room with Shanika Warren-Markland, another actress. I can’t remember the exact words he used, but Noel basically implied that if I didn’t kiss Shanika then I wouldn’t get the job, so I kissed her. I remember feeling clearly that this was the expectation or I would not be considered for the role. I remember not feeling comfortable in that room. As far as I can recall, Noel and Shanika were the only 2 people in the room when I was asked to interact in that way.”
“I do not want to give oral evidence at trial. The idea of going back over everything I experienced is very upsetting, and especially the idea that people might not believe me when I know categorically that my evidence is true. Since working with Noel Clarke on [‘Production E’] I have been scared of seeing him and have avoided Soho, where I know he spends a lot of time. During the trial, I will be filming for a very important job and I do not feel able to cope with the emotional upheaval that giving evidence would cause.”
“Noel was ogling [‘Maya’], telling her that she was ‘fit’, that she was ‘it’ and he was putting his arms around her waist and I remember thinking ‘why are you doing that?’. … After [‘Maya’s’] audition, we discussed her suitability for the role, as we did with all candidates. I expressed some mild critical thoughts – as I would in any such discussion – and Noel responded very strongly that she was the one for the role, citing the same reasons: that she was ‘fit’ and ‘hot’. He was very vociferous about that and pushed for her to be given the role.”
“He said various things to me directly that made me feel uncomfortable: that he was a sex addict and that he would never cheat on his wife, but that ‘if it was offered to me on a plate’ then he wouldn’t turn it down. He said that, for him, it wasn’t cheating if it was a one-night thing.”
“Yeah, understood, appreciated. I apologise for that as well. … That was not my intention to make you feel that way. It was not my intention to try and bed you … …And I did have someone in my apartment and it was on a plate. And it didn’t happen because I wasn’t trying to get in trouble. She had someone. I’m married, d’you know what I’m saying. … I just didn’t ever think that the words I was saying or the subconscious looks or anything like that … any of the stuff I said or overtly did say in my mind that was banter. I’m just really sorry. I just really am. I can’t apologise enough. I respect you as an artist. I respect you as a woman, as a person. I respect you as an actor. And I never want you to ever think, and I am sorry you have thought, that I’ve encroached on that respect by being remotely sort of insidious in my intentions or trying to bed you, even if I was telling you stories as a like, I probably like, she’s a mate, I’ll tell you this story, I could have had this person. I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.” (Emphasis added.)
“Very early on it was clear that Maya was not someone who was interested in sort of hanging out with the rest of the cast, so absolutely not did I try to hug her or kiss her. Like Ms Atherton, she was very clear that she was not a sort of person that was into that sort of tomfoolery.”
“[‘Maya’] …you know my boyfriend was in LA … and I felt like there was a lot of talk from you trying to, trying to kind of like convince me that my boyfriend was cheating and I felt like there was an energy that you were ultimately trying to, you know, if, you constantly told me that you were up for something else, you know, taking it further, if I was up for that, right. And I felt a little bit pressured by that. … [Noel Clarke] I would love you to know that had you remotely said anything to me then I would have done my utmost to make sure that those things weren’t said. … Like the boyfriend stuff is just teasing but I appreciate that … us teasing and saying ‘hey man, if he’s not around we’re, I’m open, or whatever’. I guess you have to set those parameters if people aren’t happy with those jokes I think you know, it’s easy for me to say they need to say something but I guess if, you know, I’m not a mind reader, so it’s easy for me to say they need to say something. But obviously not hearing you saying anything, you know, sort of made me, us, think those jokes were ok. And I guess they’re not ok.” (Emphasis added.)
“In between takes Noel was looking me up and down leering at my body, saying ‘if I wasn’t married…’ and making sexual noises like ‘mmmm’. He was complimenting me on my body. I remember feeling really uncomfortable and I felt I couldn’t say anything because he was the producer.”
“[‘Maya] … there would be bits where you’d be looking me up and down and talking about my body, and things like that, which actually did make me feel uncomfortable. But it’s a really weird thing for a woman because you start, you start saying these things and at first it’s like your instant reaction is to laugh it off, right. … You might do something, or say something in a sexual way, or whatever. And the first thing is, if it’s on set, you know, you just laugh it off. But then when it becomes more consistent it’s hard to, you’ve already laughed it off a few times. So then it feels weird to say, actually. It’s a hard thing. Not for every woman. I’m talking for myself. It’s a hard thing for a woman to then go, ‘actually do you know what, I shouldn’t have laughed back then because that actually was uncomfortable, and I laughed out of feeling uncomfortable’. But then I did. And so now you kind of have to carry on with it and you don’t even realise it’s happening until it is too late. … [Noel Clarke] I’ve just never even remotely thought that I was one of those weird, creepy guys that makes people uncomfortable. It’s just not what I’m about. Like, it’s just not me. I’m generous, I’m helpful, I’m friendly. Like, I’m so so sorry. … I understand your points, completely. So, I’m not saying it didn’t happen. But I’m not that guy. … Even like you said the looking up and down. I mean. I’m sorry. I can’t. You know, it must have just been one of those things where, like, you know … You’re attractive, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to make you feel weird, d’you know what I mean. You’re attractive and maybe I just was looking, like caught myself looking up and down. Like I have eyes. God gave me eyes. And I probably was just doing it automatically without thinking about how it made you feel. Like not in, you know I wasn’t intentionally going ‘mmmm yum yum’, d’you know what I mean, I’m not that guy. But you know what I mean, you’re not looking like Shrek. So maybe I just was kind of like subconsciously, and excuse me for saying this, subconsciously appreciating you but it came across in a way that was like salacious and like, d’you know what I mean, ‘he wants to do stuff’. And that that just wasn’t my intention.”
“probably around a week before the [sex] scene was due to be shot, [‘Maya’] came to see me and said she didn’t feel comfortable because Noel was being so weird around her. She told me that when Noel would pass her in the corridor, he would say things like ‘we’re going to fuck later on, we’ll fuck next week,’ and [‘Maya’] would tell him ‘no, we’re shooting a sex scene’. [‘Maya’] also told me that Noel had been pressuring her to be nude in the scene.”
“I spoke to Noel and told him that [‘Maya’] felt he had been saying things to her that were unprofessional (specifically his comments about fucking her). I remember Noel denied that he had said anything of the sort. I said to him ‘why would [‘Maya’] make that up?’. I did not believe his denial because [‘Maya’] had been so anxious when she spoke to me.”
“Noel got really mad at me for addressing this issue with him. Noel felt that [‘Maya’] had read the script and accepted the part knowing that there was a sex scene. His response was along the lines of, ‘well we’ll just have to sack her, get rid of her’ … His opinion was that if the sex scene wasn’t filmed the way he wanted then it would mess up the character arc of [‘Maya’s’] character. … I then told Noel that he couldn’t say a word to [‘Maya’] about us having this conversation, which he was not happy about. I said this because it would not have been an appropriate conversation for him to be having with her, given the circumstances.”
“she felt really uncomfortable about Noel. They had a sex scene, which as I recall was to be filmed the next day, and Noel was suggesting that they do it naked. She said it made her flesh crawl. [‘Maya’] said that she really did not like the way Noel was pressuring her. [‘Maya’] also said that she felt Noel was coming on to her because he was being leery and suggestive. She made it clear to me that Noel’s behaviour made her feel deeply uncomfortable.”
“From my side, the Producers just said to me ‘well she wants to wear all these clothes’ and I’m like ‘well, that’s not the scene’. So from my side I was just asking what you were wearing. I didn’t want you to be nude. I think the Director was asking me to ask you because he wanted the illusion of nudity.”
“In my experience of actors – I have had a lot of experience with actors – it is very difficult to alienate your co-workers and powerful people that you think are going to help you with your career. That goes for everyone in the business, I am afraid. That is how it works. It is very difficult to badmouth, to complain, to take things further. Most people, most of the experience of particularly young actresses is they care about their careers and they will pretty much do anything to stay in favour because of their careers, so it does not surprise me.”
“A floor runner’s main responsibility is making sure everything runs smoothly on set and being the main point of contact for the cast. This meant I would be the first to greet Noel every morning, make him coffee, get his breakfast and get him into costume and makeup on time to travel to set.”
“I suggested that we could do a read-through of my script if we had days off. Noel seemed keen at the idea, so I asked ‘where?’, to which he responded, without missing a beat, ‘in my bed’ or ‘in my bedroom’. I was taken aback and said ‘what?’ and he repeated ‘in my bedroom’, the second time playing mock shy, sipping on this drink.”
“Noel asked to look at my hands and I said no. He said ‘why? You won’t let a black man touch you?’ I felt shocked and manipulated into relenting. I reluctantly gave him my hand. If he had not played the race card, I would not have done this. When he took my hand, he closed it with his hands like a sandwich and started making sex noises – full on groaning noises with a mock orgasmic face. I pulled my hand back immediately.”
“Let us know where you guys end up too, even if it’s just [a fellow actor] snorting coke of a stripper’s vajajay. I would actually love to see that.”
“Q. … So, you told him you do not believe in monogamy, you liked sleeping with married men and that ‘what goes on tour stays on tour’, words to that effect; that was the conversation you had with Noel? A. A conversation we had over spanning hours did include those things, yes. … Q. You engaged in sexual banter and the humour; it was voluntary? A. I engaged with it, yes.”
“don’t tell anyone about this, or I will find out about it. It’s a small world, I know everyone, if you do tell anyone I will find out about it and I’ll come for you’ or ‘I’ll get you.’ It was a clear threat.”
“It was all like ‘how important I am, how important I am’, and then it was, the sex. ‘No, okay, don’t tell anyone’. And then, ‘this is what will happen if you do’. Because he has already paved the way for me to be scared that he is just going to, he has the power to destroy you.”
“[Noel Clarke] Hey. Good munch yesterday. Are you sending the stuff? [Noel Clarke] Let me know as I’m really interested in your show or in your writing our show. Etc. (Which would become OUR show) [Jing Lusi] Sorry dude had a late start and a phone call from a disgruntled actor on this film haha. Just meeting Hannah now for a coffee and will send after x [Noel Clarke] Thanks. Say hi to her for me [Noel Clarke] [Shush emoji]” [Noel Clarke] Thanks. Say hi to her for me [Noel Clarke] [Shush emoji]”
“Jing Doesn’t believe in monogamy Sleeps with married man And wants a man to own it.”
“Ms Lusi spent a large part of the evening telling me about her exploits as much as I was telling her about some of mine. It was an open conversation so she could not be possibly shocked by this, but this particular moment of the meal did not actually happen.” … “I did not drag the conversation there [i.e. in the direction of talking about sex]. As is admitted and as we have seen, I have a mouth that probably should be kept more in check than it was, but I 100% did not drag the conversation there. Ms Lusi was more than open to talk about these things, as I set out, by sending me her text on a few days before [see para 826 above] … My issue is, with my penchant for having those conversations, if I meet somebody like-minded, it goes to a place it is possibly inappropriate to go, but in this regard, even what she says to me is not overly inappropriate because we are two adults having an adult conversation outside of work. So what is the issue?”
“I did not ruin his career. He ruined his own career by threatening my children, telling people to bang my wife, trying to find my address online, encouraging people to find my address to the point where they got within a mile away, telling people to stab me, saying he was going to go round their houses after they stabbed me, and all sorts of other disgusting things, including calling me names that I do not want to repeat ... He had been peddling this for years with his friends, who are the people I set out in the conspiracy. So, I did not tell people that I would ruin his career. It is clearly set out what he did to me, which is fact, and he was convicted in a court of law for doing so.”
“I did not say this. The agent never dumped him for me. He had left his agent almost a year before I obtained that agent so me being with Mr O’Sullivan was nothing to do with Mr Deacon whatsoever.”
“I would consider a belief to be reasonable for the purposes of section 4 only if it is one arrived at after conducting such inquiries and checks as it is reasonable to expect of the particular defendant in all the circumstances of the case.”
“The use by a successful male public figure in the film and television industry (the Claimant) of his power and status to subject women in the industry (and in particular women working for him) to sexual harassment and abuse, unwanted sexual contact, mistreatment and bullying over many years; BAFTA’s decision to make an award to the Claimant for an Outstanding Contribution to Cinema (‘the award’) and the making of the award after BAFTA had received allegations of such conduct; The failure of the industry to prevent such conduct and protect women in the industry who might be preyed on in this way.”
“Following the advent of the #MeToo movement, the senior editors had discussed the theme of imbalances of power in the workplace. We had also discussed the way in which patterns of male behaviour could lead to the exploitation of women, including through their work. We considered the subject a matter of public interest and a subject worthy of investigation.”
“Although (formerly) a public figure, involvement in (primarily) non-crimes (as opposed to involvement in serious crimes), particularly that which may naturally result in trial by media of worse imputations and consequence, and the risk of loss and destruction of one’s career and livelihood, is not a subject matter of public interest”
“At 7.30pm on Tuesday 27 April, I held a meeting with Kath Viner, Jan Thompson, Owen Gibson and Kira Cochrane in which we discussed Noel Clarke’s response at length and associated editorial and legal issues. We discussed the issues raised in NC’s letter, matters relating to the public interest and privacy, and discussed both the credibility of NC’s denials and the credibility of the 22 women who have been interviewed. We agreed at that meeting to proceed towards publication, although it was agreed that care would be taken in the writing of any article, to ensure that the severity of allegations was not overstated, and to ensure that the article fairly reflected Clarke’s position on all of the matters raised. It was also agreed that publication would be a decision for the editor in chief Kath Viner, and that we would consider anything else Clarke has to say about the issues at hand.”
“the Hostility Issue”, “the Verification Issue”, “the Contamination Issue”, “the Reply Issue” and “the Deletion Issue”
“who had experience working on investigations involving sexual misconduct in the workplace: Ms Osborne and Ms Kale. I had worked with Ms Osborne before on similar investigations and had always found her work to be excellent. I had not worked with Ms Kale, but I was an admirer of her work and knew of her reputation as one of the most talented journalists who writes for the Guardian.”
“The allocation of appropriate reporters to investigations into potential sexual misconduct is extremely important and it was essential to assign journalists with suitable skill, experience, and sensitivity. Accounting for the subject matter, I agreed with Paul’s assignment of Lucy Osborne and Sirin Kale to investigate. I was aware that each of those reporters had previous experience in investigating and reporting on sensitive matters of sexual harassment, and abuse of power.”
“I believed that Mr Deacon’s conviction for harassing Mr Clarke on social media meant that Mr Deacon could not be a reliable journalistic source – even if there was a possibility that he might have information that could help us.”
“[Philippa Crabb] Have you spoke to Adam Deacon at all? [Sirin Kale] So, we’re not speaking to him because of the harassment conviction which makes him an unreliable witness and also his mental--- [Philippa Crabb (overspeaking)]: Yeah, that’s what I thought. [Sirin Kale] --- his mental health.” [Sirin Kale] --- his mental health.”
“The reporters deny speaking to him. Yet it was highly probable that this was a lie, and that he was in some level of contact with the investigating team.”
“It’s really interesting though with Adam because like everything he-. Well, he did accuse of Noel of being a paedophile, which was I think one of the reasons he got done for harassment. But a lot of the other stuff he accused him of is 100% true. So it’s like, oof, you know, he got convicted of harassment when all he was actually doing was just being honest.”
“My job as an editor is not just to edit the copy, it is to stress-test the story, to say, ‘How do we know this is true? Is there another explanation for what may have happened here? To what extent do you really believe this person?’, to play Devil’s advocate. I remember doing that repeatedly with Sirin and Lucy…”
“I believe we had a strong handle over all of our primary sources and the relationship they had with Mr Clarke, including any prior grievances, because they volunteered it to us.”
“[Lucy Osborne] Should I go back Synne about his suggestion that she instigated discussions of sex? [Lucy Osborne] She was open about initially flirting with him on our first call but said she did nothing to invite a dick pic [Paul Lewis] NO!” [Paul Lewis] NO!”
“We were in the last stages of fact-checking and copy editing so I did not think it was necessary, given that Lucy had already had a conversation with the source about her flirting, in which she said, ‘I did flirt with him, but I did nothing to invite a dick pic’, for us, on the basis of Simkins saying she was flirting with Mr Clarke, to go back and have that same conversation with her, it would be duplicative.”
“I do not think somebody saying that they do not believe the award is warranted is something that, as Mr Williams put it, sort of warrants investigation.”
“Q. ‘In 2004, Mel* acted in Clarke’s debut feature film Kidulthood. She was a teenager when she auditioned’, First Article; yes? A. This is the First Article, yes. Q. And that lady has not come forward to support that allegation, has she? A. Well ---- Q. Mel? A. Yes, she did, she came forward to us certainly. We interviewed her, and based on the reporting we believed this was, after contacting Mr Clarke and considering what he had to say about the allegation, we believed we were warranted in publishing this.”
“I’ve got just so many conversations with women. There are 24 women we’ve spoken to now. And I’m not, you know, I probably, I’m sure I said something that was a leading question at some point, you know.”
“Yeah, so it's lovely--it's a gorgeous. I forget the name of it. I think it's something called the Prince Albert. It’s in Herne Hill. Or the Princess? No, Prince. I think it has something to do with Prince. It’s a lovely like bougee pub.”
“Would you describe that as a sexual assault?”
“I remember these conversations with this source very well. I absolutely was not leading her; in fact, quite the opposite. I made it very clear that an allegation of non-consensual sex is extremely serious and it was something she needed to think very carefully about before making.”
“Some of [the] confidential journalistic sources were women of colour, black women, mixed race women. Women we spoke to subsequently for our reporting as well were black women, mixed race women.”
“the vast majority of these women were expressing, using similar language, similar patterns, very similar patterns, strikingly similar patterns of behaviour despite not knowing each other or not being in touch at the time. That is why we individually corroborated each of these women’s allegations, but part of our corroboration efforts was comparing the conversations that Sirin was having independently of me with women who had not met each other, there were the same things coming up repeatedly.”
“The industry standard for a period to exercise one’s right to reply is seven to ten days. It was thus outrageously unreasonable and oppressive for the Defendant to demand a reply within less than 24 hours then another 24 hours.”
“Editorially we have no commercial or proprietorial pressure to publish any story; our consideration of whether to do so is based on the merits of the story. We are working on numerous investigations and big stories all the time, and we do not feel any commercial pressure to publish purely to validate our investment in an investigation.”
“Absolutely. I am really proud of the work that we did. We had 22 women in the First Article. I think by the time of the publication of the Eighth Article I personally spoke to 70 sources. I am really proud of the work we did, and I think it was a thorough investigation.”
“As soon as litigation is contemplated, the parties’ legal representatives must notify their clients of the need to preserve disclosable documents. The documents to be preserved include Electronic Documents which would otherwise be deleted in accordance with a document retention policy or otherwise deleted in the ordinary course of business.”
“I have always understood that the point at which I should take steps to preserve relevant materials in anticipation of legal proceedings is when I receive a preservation notice, or ‘litigation hold’, from my legal department. The date on which I intended these messages to be deleted was 16 months before the Claimant sent a letter before claim to the Guardian, which is the point at which my legal department sent me a litigation hold notice.”