Defamation Bill

Lord Hunt of Wirral Excerpts

Monday 17th December 2012 Grand Committee

Moved by

[Lord Hunt of Wirral]

3A: Clause 1, page 1, line 4, at end insert—
“( ) For the avoidance of doubt, a claimant includes representatives of a person who has deceased.
( ) Where a claimant is a representative of a person who has deceased, a statement is only defamatory if its publication is so gross as to cause serious harm to individuals or a breach of the peace.”

[Lord Hunt of Wirral]

My Lords, as I move this amendment I would like to highlight the fact that it is currently impossible to bring a defamation case in which the defamed person is deceased. I readily understand that this issue affects a wide range of people. I was not proposing to deal with the Hillsborough tragedy, but with the terrible circumstances which afflicted James and Margaret Watson. In presenting this argument, I am greatly assisted by my noble friend Lord Martin of Springburn, who, like me, has visited the Watson family’s home and heard at first hand the tragedies which affected them. A number of people before the Leveson inquiry have argued that anyone who is defamed can always have recourse to the law, and therefore that those grievously affected by misreporting or misrepresentation of the facts of a particular case can always take civil defamation action. However, the Watson family feel very strongly that of course that does not apply in the circumstances of their case.

I anticipate that many people will know about this terrible tragedy. Without going into too much detail, on 10 April 1991 the Watsons’ daughter Diane—who was a conscientious, well-liked and much respected pupil at her school—was murdered, having been assaulted by the murderess the previous day. There was then what the Watson family regard as some serious misreporting of what had occurred, which in particular tarnished the reputation of their daughter in a way that caused them and their son, Alan, serious distress. Alan expressed his justifiable anger at the way his sister’s good name and reputation were unjustly damaged. It was being said by the murderess that the reason the murder was committed was that she had been bullied by the Watsons’ daughter. But Lord Justice McCluskey found very clearly that there was no evidence whatever to support that; Diane was a model pupil and not a bully. I have personally seen a letter in the Watsons’ flat from Lord Justice McCluskey, making it clear that that was his finding. Sadly, it was not observed. I realise that much of this case must result in a regulatory structure of the press which ensures that such misreporting can never take place again in the future.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Hunt of Wirral]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend the Minister very much indeed for his response. He said that he would lob the issue back to me, and of course tomorrow we will be taking note of Lord Justice Leveson’s report on the culture, practices and ethics of the press. I will certainly seek to follow his suggestions.

I should declare an interest as a practising solicitor and a partner in my firm, DAC Beachcroft, which is a national commercial law firm. Having been a partner there for 44 years, I have seen some tragedies in my time, but I do not think anything has quite moved me in the way that I was moved in Margaret Watson’s sitting room, as she went through all that had happened to her. Of course, my noble friend Lord Lester of Herne Hill is quite right; hard cases make bad law, but this does not make it any easier to explain why the law is this way in this case.

I do know that Margaret Watson told me how deeply she appreciated Helen Goodman’s speech, although she did not like the idea of a time limit. I say to the noble Baroness, Lady Bakewell, that I understand what she said, and in many ways there are issues that we must address, but perhaps she will excuse my not spending time dealing with them now. I thought that a ray of light came from the speech of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Scott of Foscote—as has been the case with many of his judgments—when he reminded us about the breach of peace. My noble friend Lord Faulks mentioned the question of an injunction. There may therefore be ways in which a situation like this could at least be prevented from happening again. As was pointed out by the noble Lord, Lord Browne of Ladyton, it was absolutely appalling for that terrible report to appear again on the day of the funeral of the Watsons’ other child, their son, and we must turn our minds to ways in which we can stop this from ever happening again. As he often does, the noble Lord, Lord Lester of Herne Hill, gave us a history lesson; the cases that took place in 1991 and 1948 highlighted issues which we have to bear in mind. However, this does not meet the concerns of the family of James and Margaret Watson. There are some ideas which this debate has raised which I would like to consider further, and find out if there is some way of preventing this situation at least from being repeated again and again. The judgment of the trial judge was that all the terrible things said about the Watsons’ daughter were not only absolutely incorrect, but also vile and dreadful to have been repeated in such a way. This letter of explanation was put into a picture frame by the Watson family.

I will consult with the noble Lord, Lord Martin of Springburn, and perhaps seek to return to this issue and deal with it in a different way. My noble friend Lord Faulks is quite right to say that there is a significant hurdle here which has to be overcome. Yet the Minister has put some persuasive arguments as to why if I return to this I should bear in mind some of the issues that he has mentioned that are not at the moment dealt with by the amendment. In the mean time, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.

Amendment 3A withdrawn.