Noel Clarke court case: Actress said to have been groped by actor states ‘it is a lie’
Actress Louise Dylan has defended Noel Clarke in his libel case against the Guardian, telling the High Court that allegations she was groped by the actor are false.
Dylan testified on Friday that claims Clarke had assaulted her at a wrap party for the film The Knot were untrue.
“Someone told the Guardian that he had assaulted me and I wrote this email because it was not true,” she told the court.
“I told Noel that he has my support because it is a lie.”
Dylan explained she heard about the false allegation through a friend, who told her that Clarke’s former business partner Davie Fairbanks had claimed to witness the incident.
After learning of Clarke’s current libel case, she contacted him directly.
She described Clarke as a friend and wrote him an email stating the allegation was untrue.
Dylan confirmed she attended the wrap party with her friend and boyfriend following a group dinner.
“I don’t remember the specifics of the party other than we had a nice time,” she told the court.
Clarke is suing Guardian News and Media (GNM) over seven articles and a podcast published in April 2021.
The original article claimed 20 women who knew Clarke professionally had come forward with allegations of misconduct.
Clarke has consistently denied all allegations against him.
GNM is defending its reporting as being both true and in the public interest.
The Guardian did not report the specific allegations about Ms Dylan in its coverage.
Dylan testified she never spoke to journalists from the Guardian, despite claims to the contrary.
“They are reporters who are supposed to research an article before publishing something,” she said.
“I was told I had spoken to these journalists to corroborate a story but I had not.”
The court heard that while allegations about Dylan were made to the newspaper, the Guardian did not actually publish these specific claims about her in their reporting.
Philip Williams, representing Clarke, previously told the court that the actor “has clearly established the falsity of all of the allegations”.
Williams added that his client was “barely able to reply to the allegations” and was “perceived as a criminal by all those who previously trusted and worked with him”.
Gavin Millar KC, for GNM, argued the paper “did not simply accept what was said to it”.
He claimed “much time and resource was devoted to getting to the truth”.
Millar also stated there is “ample evidence” that all of the articles were “true or substantially true”.
Clarke is best known for his roles in Doctor Who and the Kidulthood movie trilogy.
Following the allegations in 2021, BAFTA suspended his membership and withdrew his outstanding British contribution to cinema award.
He later dropped a legal action he had brought against the charity.
The hearing before Mrs Justice Steyn is scheduled to conclude next month.
A decision is expected to be delivered in writing at a later date.