Litigant says colleagues part of Jewish conspiracy in failed NHS libel bid
Claimant admitted lying several times to hospital staff and doctoring court correspondence, while referring to 'a group of Jewish people conspiring to save the skin of another'
A lying litigant has failed in her libel claim against the Royal Free NHS Foundation Trust after accusing her colleagues of taking part in a Jewish conspiracy against her.
A High Court judge said the claimant, identified only as ZC, had admitted lying several times to hospital staff and doctoring court correspondence, adding that her evidence should be treated with “real caution”.
The woman’s libel claim was brought after the hospital’s deputy head of legal services wrote to the court about her ongoing claim.
The claimant said this email was part of a conspiracy against her, specifically a conspiracy by Jews. She listed several clinicians, saying they were “a group of Jewish people conspiring to save the skin of another Jewish [sic].” She said the Jewish conspirators were motivated, at least in part, by hatred of Muslims.
Asked by the judge if she was Jewish, the deputy head of legal said she was in fact Catholic.
Among the Jewish hospital staff identified in the lawsuit as Jewish by the complainant is a radiologist who the claimant said had x-rayed her 16 times “for fun”.
The libel claim failed principally because the email did not cause serious harm to the woman’s reputation. The judge went on to say the defendant succeeded in showing the imputations – that the claimant was dishonest and fraudulent – were “substantially true”. The judge also dismissed a claim for breach of human rights.
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