Trio claim defamatory headlines during Nevin trial ‘unbearable’
The High Court has heard that three men who are taking a libel action against Independent Newspapers were very upset having read headlines referring to them as "would-be hitmen".
The three, who were prosecution witnesses in the Catherine Nevin trial, told the State's senior counsel that the pressure they were coming under was unbearable.
Peter Charlton, senior counsel for the State during the Nevin trial five years ago, said he went into the complication room during the trial to talk to the three men.
He said he remembered being shown the Evening Herald headline: 'Nevin's diary altered', among other newspaper headlines.
He said these headlines were brought to the attention of the court and a gagging order was made by the judge restricting papers to reporting factual actions of the three men.
Gerard Heath from Meath, John Jones from Balbriggan, Dublin, and William McLean from Harold's Cross Road, Dublin, claimed that the headlines from the newspapers of the time were defamatory.
