… and takes on Marketing Week in court over ‘fat cat’ document leak

Camelot goes to the High Court this week in an effort to wrest from Marketing Week leaked documents which sparked the “fat cats” furore and brought three of its directors to the brink of resignation (MW May 29).

The court hearing before Mr Justice Morris is an implicit admission that Camelot’s internal inquiry, led by its director of security Neil Dickens, has failed to unearth the mole.

According to documents supplied to Marketing Week, Camelot believes that unless the unknown source is identified and dismissed, its ability to run the Lottery effectively is threatened. Camelot further states that an internal climate of suspicion has damaged morale.

MW will resist Camelot’s claim to the documents.

“The robust protection of sources is essential to effective journalism,” says MW editor Stuart Smith.

Under the Contempt of Court Act 1981, a source of information is guaranteed anonymity. MW has retained Andrew Nicol QC, who represented William Goodwin, a trainee journalist on the Engineer, in a similar case which eventually went to the European Court of Human Rights after the House of Lords turned down an appeal.

David Pannick QC is leading Camelot’s case.