BODYGUARD Loses Libel Case - Katherine Speaks Out!
DancingTheDream
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Michael Jackson's bodyguard costs Channel 4 £1.7m
Paul Cheston, Courts Correspondent Paul Cheston, Courts Correspondent
21.06.10
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Paul Cheston, Courts Correspondent Paul Cheston, Courts Correspondent
21.06.10
Michael Jackson's mother today attacked a British bodyguard for betraying her pop star son's memory.
Katherine Jackson spoke of her anguish as Matthew Fiddes was forced into a humiliating High Court climbdown in his two-year libel battle against Channel 4.
The martial arts expert today withdrew his claim that the broadcaster and film-maker Jane Preston had "faked" the 2008 documentary, The Jacksons Are Coming.
But the victory was bittersweet for Channel 4, which was left with a £1.7million legal bill because Fiddes, 28, who launched the case on a "no win, no fee" basis, does not have the funds to pay.
On the eve of the trial today Fiddes withdrew - leaving more than £3million in unpaid costs and Channel 4 having to pay more than £1.7 million even though it won the case. In a statement, Mrs Jackson - who is the legal guardian of her dead son's three children Prince, Paris and Blanket - said: "Jane's documentary showed what happened to us - that Fiddes, who said he was a friend, let us down badly.
"He tried to use us to his own advantage and when things didn't go his way, he behaved badly.
"Fiddes tried to pretend that he was a close friend of my son Michael but when I spoke to Michael about him, he could not remember who he was.
"The whole family was deeply upset by interviews he gave shortly after Michael's death which no friend would have done. After that, Fiddes wrote to my son Tito and said that if we gave evidence against him on behalf of Jane then we would regret it.
"We decided we were going to come and tell the truth about him anyway. You have to stand up to people like this."
Mrs Jackson and Tito had been due to fly to London to give evidence against Fiddes in the trial which was to have lasted for three weeks.
The documentary, watched by nearly two million people, showed how the Jackson family planned to buy a home in Devon.
Ronald Thwaites QC, representing Fiddes, today told Mr Justice Tugendhat: "Mr Fiddes publicly acknowledges that the programme was 'not faked' as he had previously claimed and has today withdrawn his allegations of malice made against these defendants."
Outside court, Julian Bellamy, head of Channel 4, said that he understood that Fiddes was "simply not in a position to pay" the massive costs billed.
Stephen Lambert, chief executive of the documentary production company, described Fiddes as "vainglorious" and "a fame-seeking fantasist".
Ms Preston said that Fiddes's "smears and scurrilous accusations" had devastated her professional life and career for nearly two years.
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