- Michael Turner’s Case Against Mirror Group Newspapers
- Allegations of Illegal Activities by Mirror Group Newspapers
- Testimony and Defense Arguments in Court
Next Tuesday, Coronation Street actor Michael Turner (Michael Le Vell) will testify against Mirror Group Newspapers. His attorneys have previously outlined his case.
The Mirror’s publisher told the High Court that a story about a Coronation Street star made him “feel sick.” And that other articles about him were a “complete violation” of his privacy.
Michael Turner, 58, also known as Michael Le Vell, has portrayed Kevin Webster on the soap opera since 1983. After years of illegally targeting him, Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) titles released “highly private details” about his life.
The actor has not yet testified; he is scheduled to do so on Monday. However, his attorney, David Sherborne, has outlined his case, which involves 28 articles published between 1991 and 2001.
They include a home burglary, the birth of his daughter, and his 2011 arrest for rape, which was eventually dropped.
Due to his position as a trade union representative, he was previously accused of being a “mole” by his fellow Coronation Street cast members because of incidents that appeared in the press.
Prince Harry and Nikki Sanderson, a former Coronation Street, and current Hollyoaks star, are among the plaintiffs suing MGN, the publisher of the Daily and Sunday Mirror and the Sunday People.
They claim journalists were involved in illegal activities such as phone hacking. So-called “blagging” or obtaining information through deception, and the use of private investigators.
MGN refutes Mr. Turner’s claim, contending that there is “no evidence” of voicemail interception or illegal information collection involving him.
There were references to spies and ‘insiders’ in the narratives.
According to the actor’s solicitors, private information appeared in the press “for which there was no legitimate explanation as to how it had been obtained, but at the time he wrongly suspected those close to him”.
Mr. Sherborne told the court on Thursday that Mr. Turner’s claim included quotations attributed to “a Street source,” “friends,” a “Corrie mole,” “spies,” and “insiders.”
The October 1996 Sunday Mirror article with the headline “Street star’s safe house,” about the actor moving after a break-in, “contains highly private details about the break-in that occurred at Mr. Turner’s family home,” as well as information about the “financial assistance” he received from a niece “to buy a new house,” according to Mr. Sherborne.
The court was informed that in an October 2011 article about Mr. Turner’s arrest on suspicion of a sexual offense. For which he was later acquitted, a “pal” commented on what the actor had allegedly said.
This was “extremely distressing,” and Mr. Turner “blamed every Tom, Dick, and Harry” for disclosing information, according to Mr. Sherborne.
The attorney added, “It has all the hallmarks of illegal information collection.”
Mr. Sherborne stated that the “intrusion” made Mr. Turner “feel sick” and his “blood boil.”
Richard Munden, representing MGN, argued that Mr. Turner’s case is “especially weak,” stating that some of the articles in his claim were published before phone hacking began or after it “significantly declined.”
In written arguments, the publisher’s attorneys argued that the call data evidence in the case is “a wholly insufficient basis on which to infer (voicemail interception) of the claimant.”
“Westlife star was the source of the Westlife concert tale”
On Thursday, the court also heard testimony from freelance journalist Paul Martin, a former showbiz editor for the Irish Sunday Mirror, whose byline appears on one of the articles Mr. Turner has complained about – an account of Mr. Turner and some of his co-stars being denied entry to a Westlife concert.
Mr. Martin said he had “never hacked a phone in his life” and that it was “not common in Ireland.”
Westlife’s lead singer, Shane Filan, heard the “rumours” from the band’s head of security, according to his witness statement.
Mr. Sherborne questioned Mr. Martin about the Irish Sunday Mirror publishing deceased broadcaster Gerry Ryan’s private letters. In 2010, Mr. Ryan was discovered deceased at his residence with cocaine in his system.
Mr. Sherborne argued that the decision to publish Mr. Martin’s letters demonstrated that he and his colleagues were “prepared to do things like voicemail interception and blagging”; however, Mr. Martin denied this.
The trial before Mr. Justice Fancourt will resume on Monday and conclude in June with a verdict.
