ACTOR Noel Clarke lost his High Court libel claim against the Guardian today over its reporting of misconduct allegations.

Mr Clarke sued Guardian News and Media (GNM) over seven articles and a podcast, including an April 2021 article reporting that 20 women who knew him professionally had accused him of bullying, harassment and sexually inappropriate behaviour.

The Doctor Who actor denies the allegations. 

GNM defended its reporting as true and in the public interest.

Ms Justice Steyn dismissed the claim, ruling that the newspaper “succeeded in establishing both truth and public interest defences to the libel claim.” 

She said: “I have accepted some of Mr Clarke’s evidence … but overall I find that he was not a credible or reliable witness.”

The court heard evidence that Mr Clarke had allegedly shared nude photos of women without consent, groped them, and demanded they look at him when exposed. 

Ms Justice Steyn ruled that “instances of each of those elements have been established.”

One woman, “Maya,” was found to have been “sexually harassed, pressured and touched” without consent, while another was subjected to “belittling and bullying treatment.” 

Mr Clarke also “revealed naked photographs” of a woman, “Ivy,” without her consent.

Mr Clarke’s barristers argued the allegations were part of a conspiracy by those with grudges against him after his Bafta success. 

But GNM’s lawyer Gavin Millar KC said there was “not a shred of evidence” for the claim, calling it “nonsensical and rather desperate speculation.”

Ms Justice Steyn said the conspiracy claim lacked a “proper foundation,” adding: “There has been no conspiracy to lie.”

Guardian editor-in-chief Katharine Viner hailed the ruling as a landmark for investigative journalism in Britain.