MR JUSTICE WARBY
Approved Judgment
NT1 & NT2 v Google LLC
71.
Over the years between NT1’s buy-out of Mr Steinbeck and the mid-1990s, Alpha’s
business suffered a series of setbacks. A substantial number of consumer complaints
were made to Alpha and its subsidiaries, to a trade body, and to regulators including
state regulators, about its business conduct. A substantial number of these were
considered to be well-founded. Civil claims were brought. Subsidiaries of Alpha were
subjected to regulatory sanctions by the state. Alpha’s offices and NT1’s home were
raided by the police. Alpha was then placed in compulsory winding-up, on the
petition of November Ltd and a supporting creditor. NT1 and Mr Fitzgerald were
individually required to and did give extensive formal undertakings as to their future
conduct. Some of these events were the subject of comments in Parliament.
72.
NT1 (via Sierra Ltd) and Mr Fitzgerald put up some money (“the Fund”) to pay off
November Ltd and any other creditors of Alpha and get the company out of
liquidation. A third party intervened with an application to freeze the Fund so that its
provenance could be scrutinised. The Fund was alleged to represent or include the
proceeds of the second conspiracy. The application failed for legal reasons. In due
course the winding up came to an end with payments out of the Fund to November
Ltd and other creditors.
73.
At around the same time, NT1 was arrested and charged. Funds held by him in
foreign banks were frozen at the instigation of the Crown Prosecution Service. The
Inland Revenue’s claims were settled, but NT1 and Mr Fitzgerald were prosecuted, as
I have said. NT1 did not give evidence at his trial. He and Mr Fitzgerald both
appealed unsuccessfully against conviction. Sentence was adjourned to await the
outcome of the trial in respect of the second conspiracy. Reporting restrictions were
imposed meanwhile under s 4(2) of the 1981 Act. After Mr Fitzgerald’s conviction,
the Judge sentenced him and then NT1. Mr Fitzgerald received a total of 5 years’
imprisonment, comprised of two consecutive sentences of 30 months each. NT1
received a sentence of four years’ imprisonment. Each also received a disqualification
from acting as a company director and a costs order.
74.
A detailed account of the Judge’s sentencing remarks is contained in the private
judgment (at [49]-[56]). The remarks explain how the Judge arrived at his sentences,
including his findings about the roles of the two men. Most of the detail cannot be
given without imperilling NT1’s anonymity, but it is relevant to record two particular
matters. One is that the Judge found NT1 to have been the boss, who had to shoulder
the major share of the blame for the dishonest conspiracy. The second is that the
Judge made clear that one specific matter of personal mitigation meant that the
sentence was less than the Judge would otherwise have imposed.
75.
The first third party publication complained of is a media report of the sentencing of
NT1 and Mr Fitzgerald, consisting of a headline and 16 paragraphs of text. This (“the
First Article”) was published in the financial pages of a national newspaper within a
few weeks of the sentencing hearing. The second third party publication complained
of also appeared in a national newspaper. This publication (“the Second Article”) first
appeared some months later. It was an item within a longer column concerned with
consumer affairs. It consists of a headline and 13 paragraphs of text. It begins with a
query raised by a reader, the rest of it comprising the journalist’s response.
76.
NT1 and Mr Fitzgerald both appealed unsuccessfully against sentence. The key parts
of the Court of Appeal’s judgment are set out or summarised in the Private Judgment