Women did not speak out about Noel Clarke for fear of losing work, court hears

Two women who have accused actor Noel Clarke of making sexualised comments to them have said they never made complaints at the time for fear of harming their burgeoning careers, the High Court has heard.

Clarke, 49, is suing Guardian News and Media (GNM) over seven articles and a podcast, including an article in April 2021 that said 20 women who knew him professionally had come forward with allegations of misconduct.

He denies the allegations, while GNM is defending its reporting as being both true and in the public interest.

One actress, known as Imogen, told a High Court hearing on Tuesday that Clarke invited her to dinner in 2014, when she was 20 years old.

She said Clarke propositioned her for sex and offered to take photos, talked about going to brothels and tried to kiss her on the street after the meal.

In a witness statement, she described Clarke as being “sexually threatening” which made her “frozen” and “scared”.

In describing why she never spoke out about the incident, she said: “I was just starting to experience success and I was terrified it would be taken from me.

“I would have liked to speak up, but I was afraid of what could happen if I did, so I accepted that as a young woman in the industry I would have to sit down and stay quiet.”

Clarke denies ever having been to a brothel and said Imogen was flirting with him by putting on his glasses and suggesting to be his secretary.

Imogen told the court: “What I meant was, ‘I could work for you, I could get involved and help’.”

About Clarke offering to take pictures of them having sex, she said: “That was the most frightening part.

“The idea of someone not only wanting to have sex with me. He wanted to take photos and film it.

“I remember thinking: how do I get out of this situation?”

She also said she lied about being a teenager hoping “it might deter him” and that Clarke banged his fist on the table while “his face showed a lot of anger” after she mentioned his wife and children.

Another woman who worked alongside Clarke as a costume assistant, Joanne Hayes, told the court that Clarke made sexual comments to her while they were alone in his trailer on the set of Doctor Who in 2004.

She said in a witness statement: “I asked Noel if he had his costume. He invited me into the trailer and I thought nothing of it. Then there was a complete flip of tone and from nowhere Noel remarked on my having long hair.

“He said something like: ‘I like girls with long hair. It’s nice to have something to hold on to when I do them from behind.’

“This wasn’t in a jokey or cheeky tone. It was clearly sexual and I understood it as being a sexual advance to me.”

When asked by Philip Williams, for Clarke, why she had not said anything to others about the incident at the time, she replied: “I was making my way up the industry.

“You are only ever as good as your last job, as they say, and I didn’t want this to be part of my experience as far as anyone was concerned wanting to employ me in the future.”

Mr Williams previously told the court in written submissions that the actor “has clearly established the falsity of all of the allegations”.

The barrister continued that his client was “barely able to reply to the allegations” published by the Guardian and was “perceived as a criminal by all those who previously trusted and worked with him”.

Gavin Millar KC, for GNM, said in his written submissions that the paper “did not simply accept what was said to it” and that “much time and resource was devoted to getting to the truth”.

He also said that there is “ample evidence” that all of the articles were true or substantially true.

The hearing before Mrs Justice Steyn is due to conclude in April, with a decision expected in writing at a later date.