View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. Archive content
February 19, 2004updated 17 May 2007 11:30am

Standard runs feature in £100k libel deal

By Press Gazette

The Evening Standard has printed a sympathetic two-page feature about a dead playwright’s mistress as part of a libel deal which cost the paper an estimated £100,000.

The unusual settlement saw the Standard agree to write the piece, with copy approval for the complainant, instead of publishing an apology.

Jo Capece Minutolo was the mistress of playwright Anthony Shaffer, whose filmed works included Sleuth and The Wicker Man. After his death in November 2001, a legal wrangle resulted in Minutolo failing to get a share of the writer’s estate.

She sued the Standard after it published an article on 10 July 2002 that suggested she was “an opportunist who had deliberately pretended to have had a relationship with Anthony Shaffer when in fact she was merely a hired researcher”.

A statement agreed in open court said: “This suggestion is entirely untrue.”

The paper agreed to pay Minutolo damages of £35,000; when both sides’ legal bills are included the cost to the paper is likely to reach £100,000.

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

Last Wednesday the Standard published a two-page feature in which Minutolo spoke of her time living with Shaffer and their relationship.

Her lawyer Graham Atkins, from Campbell Hooper, said: “In lieu of an apology, I negotiated a two-page positive and sympathetic article in the Evening Standard with my client.

Obviously, compared with a small but prominent apology, this is preferable to my client as she gets the opportunity to tell her whole story.”

The Standard said: “Ms Minutolo’s unsuccessful claim against Anthony Shaffer’s estate generated a lot of interest in her story and we were pleased that she chose us for her exclusive.

The payment was partly damages and partly for the exclusive.”

By Dominic Ponsford

Topics in this article :

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network