A Guardian journalist who looked into allegations of sexual misconduct by actor Noel Clarke has denied allowing “contamination” of the investigation by letting sources speak with one another.
Lucy Osborne is one of the journalists giving evidence at the High Court libel trial in Clarke’s claim against the newspaper’s publisher Guardian News and Media (GNM).
He is suing GNM over seven articles and a podcast, including an April 2021 article that said 20 women who knew Clarke professionally had come forward with allegations of misconduct.
The Doctor Who actor, 49, denies the allegations and has said several people who have made claims are part of a conspiracy to defame him.
Philip Williams, for Clarke, told a hearing on Wednesday that some of the Guardian’s sources were talking with each other in chat groups.
He accused Ms Osborne of allowing the credibility of their stories to become “contaminated” by putting them in touch with one another around the time Clarke responded to the allegations, just before the Guardian’s publication.
The barrister said: “You knew they were talking to each other and you did nothing about it, did you?”
Ms Osborne replied: “Several of these women were nervous about going on the record, unsure about going on the record or once they had gone on the record, wanted to speak with other women in their situation.
“So only after we interviewed them and took records of their allegations did we put them in touch.
“We had already started writing the article and had already gotten that information from them so there was no possibility of contamination.”
Mr Williams also accused the Guardian journalist of pursuing an agenda and having “failed to look objectively and in detail” at certain aspects of the investigation.
He said: “You investigated on your own terms. In just two weeks you had this agenda and you were tainted because of your previous investigations that took months, if not years, and you closed your eyes, is that fair?”
Ms Osborne replied: “No, it’s not fair.”
She continued: “It was no more or less thorough than other investigations, it was just a different time.”
Clarke said in an earlier hearing that a small group of individuals who he described as “primary conspirators” were driving the allegations out of personal or financial grudges and because they could not bear to see him receive a Bafta award in 2021.
When asked whether she knew that some of the sources had been talking with each other about the allegations prior to the Guardian’s investigation, Ms Osborne said: “It would be unusual for sources to exist in their own bubbles.
“People talk to one another and they share stories. That is how this initial group formulated.”
The hearing before Mrs Justice Steyn is due to conclude this month with a decision in writing given at a later date.
