The television producer Mr Sean McPhilemy has failed at a hearing at the High Court in London in his attempt to have the costs of his successful libel action against the Sunday Times awarded on the highest scale.
Mr McPhilemy's lawyers asked the presiding judge, Mr Justice Eady, to award costs, which could amount to more than £1 million sterling, on the highest scale plus interest. It was argued the costs should take effect from January 13th when the Sunday Times turned down Mr McPhilemy's "without prejudice" offer to settle if it apologised and paid him £50,000. However, Mr Justice Eady said it would be unjust to make such an order. The Sunday Times had not acted unreasonably in deciding to defend the libel action brought by Mr McPhilemy (52) over its 1993 article. In the article it claimed his Channel 4 documentary about a secret loyalist committee plotting the murder of republicans and Catholics in Northern Ireland was a hoax.
Mr Justice Eady said the Sunday Times had called 19 of the alleged members of the committee during the trial and they had protested their innocence. A settlement, retraction of the article's claims and apology would have had the overwhelming inference that the alleged committee members were unwilling to attend court to answer Mr McPhilemy's allegations, and he ruled that Mr McPhilemy's costs should be awarded on the standard basis.
It also emerged that the Sunday Times has been granted leave to appeal Thursday's verdict which held that the article defamed Mr McPhilemy and that the newspaper failed to prove that the committee did not exist.
Mr McPhilemy, who said the Sunday Times article should never have been written or published, was awarded £145,000 damages. The money will be held in an account by his solicitors pending the hearing of the Sunday Times appeal. The television producer has agreed that an inquiry into his claim for loss of earnings must await the outcome of the appeal.