Ex-royal butler Burrell wins right to sue disgraced PR guru Clifford
DISGRACED PR guru Max Clifford has failed to win a ruling blocking a privacy claim brought against him by former royal butler Paul Burrell.
Clifford, currently serving an eight-year jail sentence for sex offences, has branded Mr Burrell’s £50,000 High Court action for breach of confidence and misuse of private information as an “affront to common sense”.
Mr Burrell says he hired Clifford in 2001 to limit bad press coverage about him but, rather than stopping stories, the publicist passed on material to the nowdefunct News Of The World.
Clifford’s case is that their agreement was for him to sell information to a newspaper and a fax sent to newspaper editor Rebekah Brooks was a “teaser”. Last month, Clifford’s counsel, Lorna Skinner, told Mr Justice Mann in London that the case was brought outside the legal time limit and would be a waste of court resources.
But yesterday, the judge refused to strike out the claim. Clifford so far faces a costs bill for the action – which will be tried in January if it does not settle – of about £28,000.
Mr Burrell’s counsel, William Bennett, said: “Clifford says that Mr Burrell should be sent from this court with his tail between his legs and receive no vindication having failed in his claim – which was that Clifford had been guilty of a very, very serious misuse of private information and confidence.”
Mr Justice Mann said the claim was “stale”, but mainly because the wrong was carried out covertly and its existence concealed until it happened to be revealed to Mr Burrell by the Metropolitan Police. But he added: “There is an arguable claim with a real prospect of more than nugatory damages.”