Energy boss' claim against publisher thrown out

Dale Vince's High Court claim against a newspaper publisher has been thrown out.

Mr Vince, industrialist and founder of Stroud-based energy firm, Ecotricity, brought legal action against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) over a Daily Mail article headlined "Labour repays £100,000 to sex pest donor", published in June 2023.

The story said Labour was handing back money to donor Davide Serra with a picture showing Mr Vince holding a Just Stop Oil banner.

Mr Vince claimed ANL misused his personal data, but the judge said it should have been heard with the defamation claim in July 2024 as "any ordinary reader would very quickly realise Mr Vince was not being accused of sexual harassment".

An employment tribunal in 2022 heard Mr Serra had made sexist comments to a female colleague which were found to amount to unlawful harassment related to sex.

The original picture remained in print but was changed on The Mail+ app to one of Mr Serra 47 minutes after publication.

ANL had defended the claim and its lawyers previously told the High Court in London it was an abuse of process and a "resurrection" of a libel claim that was dismissed last year.

Mr Justice Swift said at the High Court on Monday: "There is no real prospect that Mr Vince will succeed on his claim.

"As in the defamation proceedings, it is accepted that on reading the text of the article published in Mail+ and the Daily Mail any ordinary reader would very quickly realise that Mr Vince was not being accused of sexual harassment.

"Considered on this basis the personal data relating to Mr Vince was processed fairly."

He said there was "every reason" why the data protection claim should have been heard with the defamation claim last year.

Following the decision, Mr Vince said he planned to appeal and the relevant media law "predates the internet".

He said: "The judge said if you read the whole story, you'd realise the headline was not about me, begging the question why was my face highlighted in the articles perhaps.

"But more importantly, people don't read entire articles, the law assumes it - but does so wrongly, against all data and against common sense."

Follow BBC Gloucestershire on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.