PARATROOPER Lee Clegg's solicitor told a jury yesterday he felt "very angry" when he read that failures on his firm's part had led to the soldier being wrongly convicted of murder.
Mr Ernest Telford was giving evidence at Belfast High Court in a libel action against the Daily Telegraph. Mr Telford and four other partners in the firm of McCartan Turkington Breen have sued the paper. The other partners are Bernard Turkington, Damien Breen, Gerald McVeigh and Michael Bennett.
The paper has admitted that its' story on January 24th, 1995, was defamatory but is claiming qualified privilege on the grounds that the criticism of the law firm was a fair and accurate report of a public meeting.
The Daily Telegraph's front page story, alleging that highly relevant evidence was either glossed over or omitted, was a report of a press conference as part of the "Free Lee Clegg" campaign. It was mounted after the House of Lords rejected his appeal against a life sentence for murder
Mr Telford said he was the partner who had conducted the case involving Clegg and five other soldiers.
"Before the trial I spent approximately 300 hours preparing Clegg's defence. Throughout that time I had the confidence of Clegg and the others. At no time was there any criticism of me or the barristers I engaged."
When the Lords appeal was rejected, a Daily Telegraph reporter telephoned to say he had been at a press conference at which serious criticism had been made of his firm.
"I was outraged at these serious allegations, which went to the very heart of the way I had dealt with the case," said Mr Telford. He sent off a faxed reply rejecting the allegations, and it was printed along with the original allegations the next day.
The hearing continues today.