The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Privacy case victory end of a nightmare, says ex-butler
Court: PR guru was in breach of trust after passing letter to newspaper
Former royal butler Paul Burrell has described winning a High Court privacy action against disgraced PR guru Max Clifford as the end of a “nightmare”.
After learning that he had succeeded in his case for breach of confidence andmisuse of private information, Mr Burrell declared: “I am absolutely thrilled.”
Clifford, who is serving an eight-year jail sentence f or sex offences, had branded Mr Burrell’s £50,000 action an “affront to common sense”.
At the heart of the proceedings was a letter writ-
“I am absolutely thrilled. It is a weight off my shoulders”
ten by Mr Burrell to Mr Clifford in 2002 containing information concerning his dealings with various membersof the RoyalFamily, which was not in the public domain at that time.
It was Mr Burrell’s case that he hired Clifford to limit bad press coverage about him, but was “betrayed” by him passing on the letter via a fax to Rebekah Brooks at the nowdefunct News of t he World.
But Clifford said Mr Burrell was never a PR client and came to him for one reason – to sell a “sensational” story to a newspaper.
At a hearing last month, a judge in London was asked to rule on whether Clifford did anything wrong in communicating the contents of the letter to the News of the World.
Deputy Judge Richard Spearman announced that he had found in Mr Bur- rell’s favour, and awarded him £5,000.
He said Mr Burrell “did not at any time engage or authorise Mr Clifford to market the contents of the letter, or send it to him to use for that purpose”.
Clifford “acted in breach of the trust and confidence which Mr Burrell reposed in him in sending the fax to the News of the World”.
Mr Burrell was not in court, but speaking from his florist shop in Farndon, Cheshire, he said: “I amabsolutely delighted that I have been vindicated by the High Court.
“I am absolutely thrilled. It is a weight off my shoulders. It’s been going on for three years. It has been a nightmare. I have had enough of court proceed- ings for the rest of my life.”
Mr Burrell had said any deal between him and Clifford was terminated before the fax, with details about his life with the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and the late Princess Diana, was sent in November 2002 – the day after the butler was acquitted of stealing items belonging to the princess.