Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Meghan wins £2m court battle over letter to dad
But trial will decide her copyright claim
I share this victory with each of you... because we all deserve justice and truth DUCHESS OF SUSSEX TO MOTHER AND HUSBAND AFTER RULING
MEGHAN Markle has won a privacy claim over the publication of a letter to her father but will now face a trial over her claim of owning the copyright to it.
The Duchess of Sussex, who with husband Prince Harry quit the Royal Family last year, spent more than £2million on the case against Associated Newspapers, publisher of the Mail on Sunday and Mailonline.
The former actress sued over five articles that reproduced parts of a “personal and private” handwritten letter she sent to her estranged father Thomas Markle, 76, in August 2018.
She took legal action for alleged misuse of private information, copyright infringement and breach of the Data Protection Act over five articles from February 2019 that included extracts from the letter.
After two years of litigation, High Court judge Mr Justice Warby yesterday ruled Meghan “had a reasonable expectation that the contents of the letter would remain private” and that “the Mail articles interfered with that reasonable expectation”.
Meghan was awarded an early “summary judgment” after suggesting Associated had no reasonable expectation of winning. Royal sources suggest that the Palace would have been “incredibly nervous” of any privacy trial going ahead, for fear of the media scrutiny if Meghan were to take the stand.
The judge also found Mail on Sunday articles “copied a large and important proportion of the work’s original... content”. But Mr Justice Warby said issues of whether Meghan was “the sole author” or whether Jason Knauf, formerly communications secretary to the couple, was a co-author, should be determined at a trial. Associated Newspapers said it will consider an appeal. A spokesman said:
“We are very surprised by today’s summary judgment and disappointed at being denied the chance to have all the evidence heard and tested in open court at a full trial.”
After the ruling, Meghan, 39, paid tribute to her husband Harry and mum, Doria.
She said: “I share this victory with each of you – because we all deserve justice and truth, and we all deserve better.
“I particularly want to thank my husband, mom and legal team, and especially [solicitor] Jenny Afia for her unrelenting support throughout.”
A hearing to decide matters on the copyright claim is fixed for March 2.
@rjmyers
“stalking” students for 18 months, and found several horror masks in the boot of his car. There was also a pink holdall of “trophies” including sex toys.
They also found he had a book of student accommodation and drone footage of Oak Road playing fields.
In August 2019 he admitted nine sexually motivated crimes and was jailed for eight years. This was reduced on appeal to five years eight months.
While on trial for Libby’s murder, he admitted his sexual urges were “out of control” and that he had “a problem”.
He would commit sex acts in front of women in the street and stole underwear and sex toys from homes.
But these “disgusting” crimes turned deadly when he found Libby crying, and asking for her mum. Mr Wright said: “She never stood a chance.”
Her mum told the court Libby had had mental health problems, but was “planning her future and in the best place in her life she had ever been”.
Relowicz said he did not tell police about Libby as he didn’t want his wife to find out and was “broken” about cheating on her. But neighbours said he did not seem so caring to his wife. One said: “He was constantly shouting at her. He treated her like a dog.”
A pal said: “She was terrified of him and only stayed because of the kids.”
His wife is believed to have quit her job at Malton Bacon Factory and returned to Poland, wanting a divorce.
Boleslaw Szczechowski, the head of Relowicz’s home village, Warszewice, said his family were “very poor”. He added: “We don’t have any clues why he’d do something like this. Maybe coming from such a small place didn’t help Pawel when he got to England. Like a pressure valve going off maybe.”
His mum, Marzena, who has seven other kids, insists her son is innocent.
She said he hated seeing blood and was a deeply religious boy.
The devout Catholic said: “I’d rather die than know he is guilty.” Det Supt
BRUTE
Relowicz in court and mugshot
Martin Smalley, who led the “emotional” case, said he had “no doubt” from the first arrest that Relowicz was their man. Asked why police had not linked the sex offences dating back to 2017, he said Relowicz had no convictions so his details were not in the system and there was “no pattern”.
A woman who once found Relowicz watching her having sex said he was “just allowed to carry on” targeting women, adding: “These things should not be taken lightly.” She urged people to report incidents to the police.
Relowicz faces sentence today.