Actor Noel Clarke has described a woman who claimed he propositioned her for sex at a dinner as a “fantasist” while giving evidence at his High Court libel trial against The Guardian.
Clarke is suing Guardian News and Media (GNM) over seven articles and a podcast, including an article in April 2021 that said 20 women who knew him professionally had come forward with allegations of misconduct.
He denies the allegations, while GNM is defending its reporting as being both true and in the public interest.
Cross-examining Clarke on Tuesday, Gavin Millar KC, for GNM, said the woman, known as “Imogen”, had written online the day after the dinner at Soho House in 2014, giving an account of what happened.
He said: “You told her what you wanted to do to her, quite graphically. After the dinner, when saying goodbye in the street, you hugged her and tried to kiss her on the lips. She turned her head away and you got cross.”
Clarke denied asking the 19-year-old for sex and said that he did not try to kiss her.
He told the court: “On my kids, that is not what happened at our dinner, and she is a fantasist because that is what she does. She is into women’s rights, which I do not knock, I used to be as well.
“She obviously wrote it for women who do go for those things. I can stand on that and die with it. I know it’s not real.”
In a witness statement, he said he recalls Imogen making “flirtatious and suggestive conversation”, and that she took his glasses and made a comment about being his secretary.
He added: “She did not seem uncomfortable or scared at all, and indeed, appeared to be entirely engaging in and promoting this flirtatious behaviour.”
Millar showed Clarke some text from a chat in which the actor had said later to an associate that he propositioned Imogen at the dinner.
“When you said ‘absolutely not’, that’s not what you say here,” said Millar.
Clarke said: “Well I guess but she was flirting first.
“It was not untrue because I propositioned her after she flirted with me. She flirted with me first then I continued the flirtation.”
Clarke also said that another woman speaking to the Guardian about his alleged sexual misconduct was “scary stuff” and “terrifying”.
He said: “I just did not want her speaking to journalists. I do not understand why that is a problem.
“I believe in the article, for balance, they said one or two good things about me before destroying my life.”
Clarke tells court he is ‘not a cult leader’
Gina Powell, who worked for Clarke’s production company Unstoppable from 2014 to 2017, alleges that Clarke exposed himself to her in a car, and sexually assaulted her while they were on a business trip to LA, Gavin Millar KC, for GNM, said in written submissions.
Later in the hearing on Tuesday, Millar said she was a junior in the working relationship and was trying to “be part of the family”.
“Did you know she considered leaving that relationship like leaving a cult?” he later asked Clarke.
Clarke replied: “Wow, I’m a cult leader now. This is getting more and more outlandish. I am not a cult leader.”
He continued: “She was more than happy to engage in these conversations.
“I am not trying to attack anyone. I am trying to defend my position. These people who are saying these things are also involved in these things.”
In a witness statement, Clarke said Powell asked about going to a strip club on the LA trip and would send him links to pornographic material.
He also claims Powell “groped” him “multiple times” during a different trip to Edinburgh.
When asked by Millar how he defines groping, Clarke raised his hands in front of his chest, spread his fingers and said: “Squeezing my bottom, groping.
“If you are hugging someone and lean over and touch someone’s bottom, I’m assuming that is groping.”
He also denied telling Powell she has a “Volkswagen vagina”, adding: “I don’t even know what that means.”
The trial in London will only deal with liability and not the assessment of any damages. Clarke wants to increase his claim for special damages to more than £70m, and also wants to bring a claim over allegations that multiple people conspired against him using fabricated allegations of misconduct or sexual assault.
Philip Williams, for Clarke, previously told the court in written submissions that the actor “has clearly established the falsity of all of the allegations”.
The barrister continued that his client was “barely able to reply to the allegations” published by the Guardian and was “perceived as a criminal by all those who previously trusted and worked with him”.
Millar said in his written submissions that the paper “did not simply accept what was said to it” and that “much time and resource was devoted to getting to the truth”.
He also said that there is “ample evidence” that all of the articles were true or substantially true.
The hearing before Mrs Justice Steyn is due to conclude in April, with a decision expected in writing at a later date.
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