The Times - UK (2020-08-06)

(Antfer) #1

the times | Thursday August 6 2020 2GM 15


News


A ten-year-old budding gymnast is per-
forming acrobatic tricks on his trampo-
line only months after losing his leg.
Max Clark was crossing a path in
Rosmead Park in Hull when he was hit
by a speeding motorcycle. His lower leg
became entangled and had to be
amputated below the knee, and he was
given a prosthetic replacement.
Less than three months later, Max is
back on his trampoline with his “robot
leg”, doing his favourite tricks.
His mother, Kirsty Clark, 31, said: “He


The Duchess of Sussex was yesterday
accused by a judge of using the media to
fight her privacy battle outside of court.
Meghan, 39, won the right to keep the
identities of her five best friends secret
after arguing that publicly naming
them was an “unacceptable price to
pay” in her battle with The Mail on Sun-
day. She is suing the publisher of the
newspaper and the MailOnline website
over its publication of extracts from a
letter she sent to her estranged father,
Thomas Markle, 76.
Mr Justice Warby said at the High
Court that the anonymity order would
shield the friends “from the glare of
publicity in the pre-trial stage”. He said
that the decision would be reviewed as
the case progressed.
The duchess applied to keep secret
the identity of friends allegedly in her
“inner circle” who spoke to the US
magazine People before the publication
of an article that included details about
her relationship with her father.
The judge said that both sides “have
demonstrated an eagerness to play out
the merits of their dispute in public, out-
side the courtroom, and primarily in
media reports”. There was evidence that
the duchess’s side “have been energeti-
cally briefing the media about these
proceedings from the outset”.
Before her witness statement
was made public, details were
posted on the Twitter feed of
Omid Scobie, co-author of the
biography Finding Freedom:
Harry and Meghan and the Making
of A Modern Family, which was
serialised in The Times. It
was “accompanied by a
quotation attributed
to ‘a close source’
criticising the Mail
for wishing to ‘tar-
get five innocent
women through
the pages of its
newspapers and
its website’,” Mr
Justice Warby


Judge accuses


Meghan of


using media


in legal battle


David Brown said. He added: “Mr Scobie then tweet-
ed the passage from the witness state-
ment that I have quoted above. The in-
ference invited is that he had been pro-
vided with a copy by representatives of
the claimant. This seems very likely.”
MailOnline had also revealed details
of the legal case, including an article
headlined “Meghan Markle’s private
texts to best pal Jessica Mulroney could
be released in bombshell court case”.
The judge said that the article cor-
rectly reported that the publisher of
The Mail on Sunday and MailOnline
would seek disclosure of email ex-
changes with Ms Mulroney, 40, a Cana-
dian stylist. The friends may have to be
identified if called by Meghan to give
evidence, the judge suggested. “At trial,
that is a price that may have to be paid
in the interests of transparency.”
Meghan and the newspaper were
both found to have overstated the “tit-
for-tat criticisms” for publicising details
of the case. The judge said that the
newspaper publisher has not yet “made
good” its claim that the real motivation
of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in
bringing the case is “to wage their own
campaign against the press”.
The duchess has said that the five
friends covered by the anonymity order
are young mothers. People described
them as a “longtime friend”, “former
co-star”, “friend from LA”; “one-time
colleague” and a “close confidante”.
The duchess is seeking damages
for alleged misuse of private infor-
mation, copyright infringement
and breach of the Data Protection
Act. The Mail on Sunday has claimed
that she permitted information
about her personal relation-
ship with her father, in-
cluding the existence of
the letter and a descrip-
tion of its contents, to en-
ter the public domain via
the article in People.
She claims that she on-
ly discovered that her
friends had given inter-
views after the article
was published. The hear-
ing, due to take seven to
ten days, will be held between
January and February.


The duchess is suing over
publication of a letter


T


he Duke and
Duchess of
Cambridge are
used to loyal
subjects bowing
and scraping in their
presence but not to being
given short shrift by a
disgruntled pensioner
angry at their bingo-
calling skills (Ben
Ellery writes).
The couple visited
Shire Hall care
home in Cardiff
yesterday, three
months after calling
out numbers for the
residents’ weekly bingo
session via a video link.
During a conversation
with Joan Drew-Smith,
87, who made the couple
laugh in May when she
told them it “wasn’t as
good as it should have
been”, the duke said:
“Hello Joan, do you
remember we did the
bingo with you? You said
we weren’t very good!”
“Yes,” she replied. “You

did a bloody shitty job.”
Briefly taken aback,
William and Kate, both
38, then roared with
laughter.
“Is that your assistant?”
Ms Drew-Smith asked
William, pointing at the
duchess. “Well I am your

assistant,” laughed
Kate, putting a hand
on her husband’s
shoulder. “I have been
for a long time!”
The duke later told
staff: “I love Joan, she’s
brilliant. If only everyone
was as honest as her.”
Speaking to Pamela
Davies, 82, and her
daughter, Sally, the
duchess admitted that she
struggled with masks. She
said: “I always get told off
for mumbling anyway
and now with masks on
you can’t see anyone’s

mouth.” The couple had
earlier removed their
masks on a visit to Barry
Island in south Wales, the
setting for the BBC
television series Gavin
and Stacey, which the
duke admitted he had not
watched, despite being
friends with the show’s
star, James Corden.
The duke and duchess
competed against each
other in a coconut shy-
style game and were
shown 24 beach huts built
as part of a £6 million
seaside regeneration.

Bingo fan


has William


and Kate’s


number


ing

o
k.
on
h,
ple
e didabloodyshittyjob.”

a
K
on
sho
for a
The
staff: “
brillia
was as
Spea

The care home residents updated their verdict on the
royal bingo calling. The couple also visited an arcade

BEN BIRCHALL/PA

Gymnast, 10, with prosthetic leg bounces back from accident


just jumps around all the time and is
really positive.”
The family is hopeful that Max will be
able to stay in the same gymnastics class
he was in before the accident. He has
worked particularly hard at relearning a
back handspring, his favourite trick.
Ms Clark said: “It took him about six
months to learn that the first time
around — he was trying and trying.
Then this happened, and he couldn’t do
it again. He was so upset. This was the
main trick that he wanted to be able to
do again, and now he can.”
During his recovery, he was invited to
a local police station, which left him

wanting to become a police dog
handler. On other days he wants to be a
YouTuber.
Humberside police have invited Max
to become an ambassador for an
operation deterring people from mis-
using motorbikes.
Ms Clark said: “We think it’s a really
good idea. It won’t do much for the
people who already act in that way, but
definitely for Max’s generation, I think
it will make a big difference.”
Max, who was nine at the time of the
crash, still struggles to sleep, suffers
from phantom leg pain and is more
cautious when the family goes out.

However, his mother said that she
“couldn’t be happier” with his progress.
Jerome Cawkwell, 24, the motor-
cyclist, was given a three-year sentence
and banned from driving for five and a
half years for causing serious injury by
dangerous driving in June.
After the crash, he fled the scene and
hid the bike at his girlfriend’s house.
Chief Inspector Paul Butler said that
every officer who spent time with Max
had “remarked on what a happy,
positive young man he is”.
Max was described as “an inspiration”
who “touched the hearts of all those
who have worked on this case”.

Charlotte Wace
Northern Correspondent


Max Clark lost his leg
when he was hit by a
motorcycle in a park,
but quickly got used
to his replacement
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