Cases

Galloway v Telegraph Group Ltd (CA)

Facts

The Daily Telegraph published articles in April 2003 setting out documents which had been found in the Iraqi Foreign Ministry after the fall of Baghdad. The documents suggested that the Iraqi regime had been making payments to the Claimant. The documents were published in full together with articles and comment by the Defendant. The Claimant complained that the articles suggested that he had been taking large sums of money personally from Saddam Hussein’s regime and that the allegations made in the newspaper went beyond what was alleged in the documents. The Defendant contended that it did not suggest that the allegations in the documents were true, and relied upon Reynolds qualified privilege defence. Further, the Defendant defended the publication of its conclusions on what the documents appeared to say as fair comment on a privileged report. The Judge rejected both defences finding that the newspaper had adopted allegations of fact against the Claimant and awarded £150,000. The Defendant appealed.

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