E-mail this to a friend
Print this
Heavy metal manager wins 'sexual deviant' libel case
Times Online
17 January 2007
A rock band tour manager has been awarded £40,000 in libel damages after an influential music magazine printed an interview claiming he had been caught masturbating at his desk.
Mark Stickland, 36, said he was portrayed as a "sexual deviant" in the January 2006 edition of music magazine Kerrang!.
He denies the allegation and took his case to the High Court after Emap Metro, Kerrang!’s publishers, refused an offer of £4,999 and an apology to settle the matter.
The publisher argued that the article claimed Mr Stickland had engaged in "ordinary" sexual activity and so was not defamatory — and that it was true. But this morning a jury unanimously decided in favour of Mr Stickland and refused Emap permission to appeal the decision.
The case concerned an interview with "Bullet for My Valentine", a heavy metal band, that enticed readers with the promise "prepare to be disgusted" by the "sickest interview ever".
It included a comment from the band’s drummer, known as Moose, about the tour manager for a series of concerts in Germany in December 2005 — a position held by Mr Strickland at the time although he was not named. Asked if he had ever been caught masturbating, Moose was quoted as saying: "Never, I’m too good at it, but we caught our tour manager pleasuring himself in Germany two weeks ago."
Mr Stickland’s barrister, William McCormick, told Mr Justice Tugendhat and the jury that the incident was made up
He described Mr Strickland, of Nottingham, as a "fairly ordinary" and conscientious person and said the article accused him of conduct that was "wholly inconsistent" with his professional responsibilities. "What’s being said is that when he should have been at work, he engaged in activity which was lewd, sexual and, effectively, he could not control his sexual impulses," Mr McCormick said.
Mr Stickland who has worked for bands in Europe, the US and in Australia over the last 10 years, said the article made him feel "angry, humiliated, hurt and very upset".
"I felt very awkward picking up the phone and asking people for work. The bands I work with are all heavy metal bands and, in the heavy metal business, everyone reads Kerrang!," he told the court.
Sarah Webb, head of defamation at lawyers Russell Jones & Walker, said: "Kerrang! has found to its considerable cost that the public does not share its very liberal approach to allegations of lewd behaviour at work - and that to accuse someone of masturbating in the workplace is defamatory."
"This outcome shows the value of juries in such cases in assessing what ordinary people still consider to be defamatory and who to believe."
After the hearing, Mr Stickland said: "All I ever wanted to do was clear my name and I believe that is what’s happened."
The issue of costs has not yet been resolved.