Authors: Barrie Turner
Paula Harris was now wide-awake and she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Surely, she wondered, there must be some mistake. How the hell could he wriggle out of this? “Well,” she answered, trusting to luck that her voice would not betray her true emotions, “that really is good news, but Timothy, why couldn’t you tell me this before? After all it’s been just as hard for me over the past months with all these allegations and everything else besides which I really do think that if you can prove it you could have told me earlier. I am your wife you know.”
“Yes, yes, I know all that but believe me, I really couldn’t say anything earlier just in case it prejudiced the murder trial. Now, if the press go after me, I’m entitled to defend myself and that’s just what I intend to do.”
Paula’s brain was reeling. She cou
ldn’t believe what she’d just been told as she gently whispered “goodbye and, good luck.” As soon as he was off the line she frantically dialled Quentin Russell’s mobile number. . As the phone rang, she looked at the clock. It showed twelve forty five and she prayed that she would be in time. Finally, she heard a voice answering as she shouted hysterically, “Quentin, Quentin, get them to kill the story. The evil, lying, little sod, reckons he’s got a complete defence. He’s just been on the phone to me bragging about it. What’s more, he reckons you don’t have a leg to stand on. Quentin believe me,” she sobbed, “I know this man he’s up to something otherwise he wouldn’t adopt this attitude and, deep down, I’ve got this terrible feeling that he’ll come up smelling of roses as he always does.”
Quentin Russell did his best to calm and reassure Paula that he would attend to matters straight away. He promised to phone back once he’d discussed the matter with the editor. Another phone call to the editor confirmed it was too late to kill the story and that they would have live with it. Quentin also realised that, if the information Paula Harris had just imparted was true, and the action was subsequently lost, then his career was at an end. God, he thought, what a night this was turning out to be. As promised he returned the call to Paula. He explained to her that it was far too late to stop the story now as many of the copies were already being distributed therefore they would just have to live with it and see what happened when the libel action came to court.”
Despite this setback, Paula told Quentin that, as far as she was concerned, her husband was still lying through his back teeth and eventually, the truth would be revealed. Without knowing whether or not it would assist the newspaper’s case, she told Quentin that she had reconsidered her decision not to testify and she now would be available if called.
Quentin, already resigned to a sleepless night thanked her and assured her that his editor would really appreciate her magnanimous gesture especially in view of the likely cost to her. With that, and a whispered goodnight, he replaced the receiver and reached for the brandy bottle beside his bed. There would be very little sleep tonight.
The story broke before the dawn. As soon as the papers hit the streets there were flurries of activity everywhere. From five o clock in the morning Timothy Harris’s telephone rang incessantly as paper after paper rang seeking his comments on the article. Turning on the television brought no relief as all channels carried the story. To make matters worse, by seven o clock there was a veritable army of reporters and TV crews camped on his doorstep and he knew he would have to issue a statement of some description when he opened the door and walked onto the street. Unfortunately for him that was only part of his dilemma because Julie, his secretary, was still in the flat and the last thing he wanted right now was some idiot from the press discovering that fact. Eventually, he decided upon a course of action whereby he would leave the flat alone and say a few words to the assembled press whilst he collected his car for his journey to the Commons. Julie would have to remain where she was until it became safe for her to leave then, hopefully safe from prying eyes, she could let herself out by the rear entrance. Before leaving Timothy stressed to her the importance of keeping well away from the windows and making any noise at all. He knew he had taken a huge risk bringing her round last night and, an even bigger one, letting her stay the night. He knew that as soon as he opened the door the eyes of the world would be upon him but once he got away from the scene she would be able to slip away.
He whispered a swift “goodbye my love,” and made his way down the stairs. As he opened the door he made as much noise as he could in order to ensure all the assembled media persons were aware that he was coming out. Inwardly he was dreading the moment, but this was a situation which had to be faced and, over the next few weeks, it would probably get very much worse so he just had to put on a brave face and get on with it. As soon as the door opened there was a rush of people towards him. They were all shouting questions and trying to attract his attention. Microphones were pushed into his face and, despite the noise of the mêleé; he could hear somebody saying, “Minister, have you seen the morning papers. Are you going to resign? Would you like to make a statement?” He stopped at the top of the steps. There was no point at this stage trying to get away as he knew that he wouldn’t even make it to the ministerial car waiting for him. Experience told him that, if he gave them something, he would be able to get to the sanctuary of his car and be able to get away to the Commons. Making sure once more that the front door was firmly closed, he turned to the assembled crowd of reporters and said, “I haven’t seen the papers yet but I know only too well why you are all here today. This morning, I have seen from the television that a leading national daily paper has decided to name and shame me. They have insinuated that somehow I have been involved with a murdered prostitute on the Wirral, and that my reputed involvement has been the subject of a cover up. I can only say that I have spoken to my lawyers, Jerome Woolff and Solomon and I have been advised by them to say nothing further at all until our meeting later today. The only thing I can say at this stage is that I emphatically deny all the allegations made and it will be my intention to defend myself, and my name with the utmost vigour. Now I am sure you all appreciate my position. I still have a job to do and, I must be allowed to get to the House of Commons without further delay. Ignoring the pushing throng of reporters and all the questions which continued to be hurled his way he made his way to the car and made his escape. Although the car was soon swallowed up in the morning traffic, he didn’t worry about being followed as he had made it quite clear to the assembled crowd that he was going straight to the Commons where he would have a brief word with the Prime Minister before seeing his appointed legal team.
When he arrived there, he went straight to the Prime Minister’s private office where the results of last night’s meeting were outlined. Then, with the best wishes of his leader ringing in his ears, it was time for his appointment.
Three hours later, outside his lawyers’ offices, and accompanied by Jerome senior, a brief statement was issued by his solicitor to the waiting press stating that, “A writ for libel, asking for substantial damages, together with a full apology, has been served at the offices of International Press and Associated Media Publications. My client wishes us to point out that this law suit will be pursued with utmost vigour and that time is of the essence as it is impossible to calculate the amount of harm or damage to my client’s reputation that these baseless, and completely false accusations have caused my client. Neither is it possible to quantify or put into perspective, the financial losses he will inevitably suffer. As a result, we shall be demanding a complete and utter retraction of every word of the article printed. Time alone will show that my client is completely innocent of all the allegations made, and that he is more than happy to await his day in court when all will be revealed. It didn’t take long for Jerome Jerome to set the wheels of justice in motion. After a series of meetings with the Crown Prosecution Service, in order to ensure proceedings would not prejudice the fair hearing of the murder trial in Liverpool, it was agreed to allow the libel case to proceed. During these meetings, Jerome outlined the case for the plaintiff, Timothy Harris, including all details of his questioning, and the subsequent statement he had given to Merseyside CID. This duly revealed he had answered questions about his stay at the Roundhead Hotel, including an account of his movements on the night in question, and that he had volunteered a DNA sample. It also showed that he had been seen in the bar from 10 pm in the evening in the company of Mr Rogerson, the assistant manager. This gentleman confirmed they had both left the residents’ bar sometime after twelve thirty. The statement confirmed he had only been questioned due to the fact there had been unconfirmed reports that the dead woman had been seen in the hotel on the day in question. Finally, there was a statement from Merseyside CID saying Mr. Harris had been exonerated from police enquiries in connection with the murder and his DNA sample had been destroyed.
Jerome indicated to the Crown Prosecution Service that the interests of justice would be best served if this case could be allowed to proceed first. He pointed out that the whole affair had proved to be particularly worrying and stressful to his client, who would be able to show independent proof that the allegations were false, and malicious. He also added there was absolutely nothing in the evidence he was going to present before the jury which would have any significant bearing upon the murder trial. Finally, he pointed out that, during the ensuing period, the defendants had been given ample opportunity to withdraw from the action, and settle out of court, but they had steadfastly refused to do so.
Naturally the defendants objected to all of the arguments raised, pointing out that it would be far more beneficial to their own case to await the trial and the verdicts in Liverpool.
With neither side prepared to concede, the issue went before a high court judge who ruled it was the fault of the defendants that they now found themselves in the position they were. He pointed out it was the defendants who had made the allegations and, at the time, they didn’t consider for a moment whether or not their actions would prejudice the outcome of the murder trial. Stressing that as long as there would be no objection from the Crown Prosecution Service, the judge said he would allow proceedings to commence as soon as a vacant date could be found in the court calendar. With no objections from the Crown Prosecution Service forthcoming, the stage was set for the case to proceed accordingly. Within a week, a vacant date was located in the High Court listings and the go ahead was given for the case to proceed. Media interest in the case was very high with cameras positioned everywhere, and reporters trying to interview everybody as they made their way up the steps and into the building. With such a high profile government figure involved, the court was filled to absolute capacity as the public and the press clamoured to be admitted.
The case was to be heard before His Honour, Sir Campbell Mckenzie, and representing the defendants, The Independent Newspaper Group, were Robert Jackson QC, and, Elizabeth Collins QC.
The trial had hardly got under way when it collapsed in dramatic fashion. Timothy Harris had just given evidence relating to his purchase of the watch together with his receipt, when his attorney produced the watch that Timothy was now claiming to be the watch he had purchased at the time. The judge quickly intervened. Very sternly, Sir Campbell pointed out that supposition alone was not enough. Then to the surprise of everybody he stated that, if the defence were unable to say that this was not the watch Harris had purchased, they must rest their case. Without a defence witness who could positively say that they had observed Harris give the item to Clarkson or somebody who could testify that Clarkson had told them Harris had given her the watch as a present, their case was bound to fail. Stressing the point that there was only a period of twenty-four hours between the purchase of the watch by Harris and the death of the woman, in his opinion that made their case nothing short of hopeless.
Seizing on the fact that the defendants had been provided by the plaintiffs with ample opportunities to apologise and withdraw, which they had steadfastly refused, Sir Campbell then launched a scathing attack on the defence. Referring to the fact that they could have sought to limit their own liabilities by making the plaintiffs an offer or, by paying that same sum into the courts before the start of the proceedings and yet they had done neither. In that case he said they were hoist upon their own petard.
After ruling in favour of a jubilant Timothy Harris, the judge announced that the jury had recommended damages for libel at £2 million pounds plus, all legal costs. Approving this settlement, the judge also ordered the newspaper group to publish a complete retraction of its article in their next editions. The repercussions from the case and the verdict were enormous and quite unexpected.
First of all, the board of directors demanded the resignation of the editor and promptly dismissed Quentin Russell from their service. Two days later it emerged the group were now in serious financial difficulties as a result of the case and they were trying to find a suitable partner for a takeover. Like a pack of wolves, other papers rejoiced at their plight with banner headlines denouncing the Independent for running the story in the first place. It hardly seemed to matter just a few short weeks before the rest of the press had been clinging to the papers shirt-tails in an endeavour to get a lead on the same story. In the rush to pillory the Independent all this was forgotten, not because they had got it wrong but because they had lost and in Fleet Street, that was the biggest sin of all.
In parliament Timothy Harris was accorded celebrity status. He revelled being in the spotlight and hardly a day passed without him making an appearance on television or radio which allowed him to take full advantage of the turn of events which had swung so dramatically in his favour. Behind the scenes and with utmost secrecy, Timothy Harris issued instructions through his solicitors, Jerome, Jerome, and Woolf, to commence divorce proceedings against his wife. With the money from the damages award, and the spin off in fees for interviews plus his parliamentary salary, the cash was absolutely rolling in. All he wanted was a suitable opportunity for the papers to be served without the appearance of undue haste.
Paula Harris was deeply saddened by this dramatic turn of events, as she couldn’t help feeling that she was responsible. Since the collapse of the case, she hadn’t been able to contact Quentin Russell and it seemed as if he had disappeared from the face of the earth.
In a tiny cramped holiday flat away from the seafront in Brighton, Quentin Russell knew that it was pointless to apportion blame for, as far as he was concerned, the case was lost and he was just another statistic on the unemployment register. Within minutes of being asked to clear his desk, all of his press associates had made it abundantly clear that he was no longer welcome in their company. His press card had been withdrawn and he could no longer gain admittance to the press club. It was no use anybody saying to Quentin that the future looked bleak simply because there was no future and, he knew it.
Quentin Russell had contacted all the editors he knew and they all expressed the same view. Admittedly some of them were honest and told him straight that, in their eyes, he was unemployable in any newspaper office, whilst others said they would keep in touch but deep down he knew they wouldn’t. Alone in Brighton with nothing else to do Quentin Russell did not spend any time reflecting upon what might have been he simply reached out for the brandy bottle and poured himself yet another large drink. It no longer seemed to matter that doctors had told him to leave it alone or else. There was no or else. There wasn’t any prospect of employment, and there was no Rose to talk to even if it was only to try to establish where it all went wrong.
The next morning he lay where he had fallen. He was still asleep from the effects of the brandy from the night before. The television was still on but he couldn’t hear it. In fact, it would be a couple of hours before he would be fully awake, and, even then, the news wouldn’t sink in straight away. When he eventually sobered up he would find that the news itself was even more depressing. Clive Anderson, the former editor of the London Independent Newspaper had been found dead at his London home. It was believed he had taken an overdose of tablets. This announcement was followed by a brief resume of his journalistic career, culminating with his recent fall from grace following the collapse of the libel case. This news would have a profound effect on Quentin when it finally sunk in for he and Clive Anderson had been very close friends indeed. Thus it was a friend he could ill afford to lose at any time of life let alone now.
Meanwhile for Timothy Harris, life was good. Life was to be enjoyed. Life was for living to the full. He never saw the lives of people he’d ruined or destroyed and, even if he had, it wouldn’t matter one jot or one iota. All that mattered to Timothy Harris was Timothy Harris, and it was just too bad if somebody got hurt along the way.