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'Plebgate' libel case: 'Police lied' about Mitchell | 'Plebgate' libel case: 'Police lied' about Mitchell |
(35 minutes later) | |
Police span a "web of lies" that led to a "vitriolic" campaign of "plebgate" stories against ex-chief whip Andrew Mitchell, the High Court has heard. | Police span a "web of lies" that led to a "vitriolic" campaign of "plebgate" stories against ex-chief whip Andrew Mitchell, the High Court has heard. |
Mr Mitchell resigned in 2012 after the Sun reported he had called Downing Street officers "plebs". | Mr Mitchell resigned in 2012 after the Sun reported he had called Downing Street officers "plebs". |
He is suing News Group Newspapers, with his lawyers saying the police account of the incident was "wholly false". | He is suing News Group Newspapers, with his lawyers saying the police account of the incident was "wholly false". |
He accepts that he swore when police refused to open a Downing Street gate for him to leave on his bicycle. | He accepts that he swore when police refused to open a Downing Street gate for him to leave on his bicycle. |
The 58-year-old MP is also being sued by one of the officers on duty at the time for comments he made following the incident. | |
Warning: The rest of this report includes explicit language | |
Giving evidence in court, the former cabinet minister apologised "unreservedly" for swearing but denied calling officers plebs, telling the judge: "My Lord, I did not say those words." | |
BBC home affairs correspondent Daniel Sandford said rarely could so many highly-paid barristers have uttered so many "fruity swear words" before a judge. | |
The Conservative MP for Sutton Coldfield says he was trying to leave Downing Street on his bike and had asked politely if he could leave through the main gates. | |
He denies losing his temper when police refused but says he swore and muttered under his breath that he thought police were supposed to "help us". | |
Mr Mitchell's legal team accept that he swore and was issued with a verbal warning by diplomatic protection officer Toby Rowland PC, who told the MP he would be arrested if it happened again. | |
Representing Mr Mitchell, James Price QC told the court one of the officers on duty had described the incident as a minor altercation that should not have been taken any further. | |
But it ended up as front page news, the court heard, when other officers - one of whom who had not been present at the gate - leaked the police account to the Sun. | |
The girlfriend of another officer was persuaded to tell the newspaper she was a passing tourist and had witnessed the incident, while another who was not present emailed Mr Mitchell's deputy chief whip, making a similar claim. | |
'Charm and menace' | |
The tabloid reported that, in an expletive-laden exchange, Mr Mitchell told the officers on duty: "Best you learn your fucking place. You don't run this fucking government, you're fucking plebs." | |
Mr Price described the police accounts as "wholly false". | |
He said: "This web of lies, deceit and indiscipline, and by police officers, led to Mr Mitchell and his family being subjected to an extremely unpleasant, indeed vitriolic, press campaign and a good deal of hostility from the public who believed what they had read in the press. | |
"It also placed him in a position where he required considerable determination and, above all, confidence in the rightness of his position, to stand by his account of events." | "It also placed him in a position where he required considerable determination and, above all, confidence in the rightness of his position, to stand by his account of events." |
PC Rowland is suing Mr Mitchell for statements MP made in the media from December 2012 and in a press conference in November last year. | |
The police officer's barrister, Desmond Browne QC, told the court Mr Mitchell was a "Mr Hyde and Dr Jekyll" character who mixed "charm and menace". | |
"The capacity for menace finds its outlet in both a foul temper and foul language," he said. |