SUNDAY Times editor Mr Andrew Neil used secrecy, subterfuge and
''sneaky methods'' to balk the Government's court moves to keep the book
Spycatcher under wraps, according to the counsel for Attorney-General
Sir Patrick Mayhew.
Mr John Laws was speaking on the second day of the Attorney-General's
High Court action seeking to punish the Sunday Times and two other
newspapers, the Independent and now defunct News on Sunday, for alleged
contempt in publishing extracts from former MI5 agent Peter Wright's
book in 1987 while injunctions obtained by the Government were in force
against the Guardian and Observer newspapers.
Mr Laws told Mr Justice Morritt that an article published in the
Sunday Times a week after its ''coup'' in printing extracts from
Wright's book in July, 1987, showed the secrecy and subterfuge which had
been used, which were later described by law lord Lord Keith, as
''peculiarly sneaky methods''.
The Sunday Times extracts were planned to coincide with the
publication of Spycatcher in the United States and were not carried in
the first edition of the paper, so that it was not until the Sunday
morning when the paper was on the streets that the authorities found
out.
''In putting Spycatcher on the street, Mr Neil used the sneaky methods
described precisely and only in order to balk the court of any
opportunity of making a decision on whether or not the material should
be published,'' said Mr Laws.
''Mr Neil believes it is for his judgment of what is in the public
interest, not the courts, when a question arises on whether or not his
paper should or should not publish a story.''
The facts disclosed a ''grave'' contempt of court by the Sunday Times
and its editor.
But Mr Laws said it would be hard to imagine a ''clearer case'' of
contempt than that committed by the now defunct News on Sunday, which
ceased publication in November 1987.
After the House of Lords decision in July 1987 to uphold the interim
injunction banning publication, the paper had published a front page
article titled A Law Made to Be Broken and with the words ''We defy
House of Lords ruling'', and a ''chunk'' of Spycatcher taken from the
Sunday Times.
''The News on Sunday thought it knew better than the House of Lords.
''It knew it was breaking the law and said so,'' said Mr Laws. ''It's
hard to imagine a clearer case of contempt.''
At the invitation of Mr Laws, the Judge agreed to make no order in the
case against the Sunday Telegraph and its editor.
The Attorney-General is not pursuing the case against the Evening
Standard and the now defunct London Daily News, but both of those papers
are seeking an order that their costs, said to be substantial, should be
paid by the Attorney-General.
Arguing that the Attorney-General should be ordered to pay the
Standard's costs, Mr Anthony Scrivener QC, said: ''The threat of
contempt proceedings should not be used to curtail freedom of speech.''
If a paper had to pay costs when there was no finding of guilt or
where the Attorney-General had decided not to proceed with the case, a
''new fetter'' would have been created on free speech, he said.
The hearing continues today when Independent editor Mr Andreas Whittam
Smith is expected to give evidence.
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