Cases

Turcu v News Group Newspapers Ltd (No.2)

Facts

A Romanian who entered UK under an assumed name sued the News of the World over allegations that he was party to a conspiracy to kidnap Victoria Beckham. The Defendants pleaded justification. The trial proceeded in unusual circumstances. The Claimant was absent from the country during the trial depriving the Defendants of the opportunity to cross-examine him and to substantiate his case that the journalists dishonestly fabricated evidence. The Defendants, whose journalists had inflitrated the 'gang', relied on video evidence demonstrating the Claimant's participation in certain serious crimes and suggesting a plan to kidnap Victoria Beckham. One protagonist relied on by the Claimant to explain the tapes invoked the privilege against self-incrimination and gave no evidence.

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