Rushdie wins apology from ex-policeman

AUTHOR Salman Rushdie received an apology in court yesterday from a former policeman who libelled him in a book about his time in hiding under a fatwa threat.

Rushdie said Ron Evans, an ex-police driver who guarded him after Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a call for his death over the novel The Satanic Verses in 1989, had penned surrealist untruths about him.

The false claims made by Evans in the book On Her Majesty’s Service included that Rushdie had bad relations with his police protection team and that they once locked him in a room after he irritated them.

Other untrue allegations included that he had poor personal hygiene and that his relationship with third wife Elizabeth West was based on his wealth.

Speaking outside London’s High Court, Rushdie, 61, told reporters he was “very gratified” by the result. “This has been an unattractive affair,” he said.

“My only interest was to establish the truth. I’m happy that the court has made its declaration of falsity and that the authors and publishers have recognised their falsehoods and apologised.”

Evans made an apology through his lawyer for 11 counts of falsehood.

Judge Nigel Teare also made a declaration of falsehood against him, ghost writer Douglas Thompson and publisher John Blake Publishing.

The publisher has destroyed the first run of 4,000 copies of the book and is correcting two chapters.

Rushdie’s lawyer David Sherborne told the court that Evans had left the police force following a conviction on nine counts of dishonesty in 2005.

In his book, he had alleged Rushdie was nicknamed “Scruffy”, and outside court the author claimed Evans had a nickname of his own — “Dodgy Ron.”

Rushdie said he would not seek damages.