Court dismisses Dell’Olio’s ‘man eater’ libel claim

THE High Court in Britain yesterday dismissed Nancy Dell’Olio’s libel action over her claim of being portrayed as a “serial gold digger”.

The Strictly Come Dancing star’s counsel, William Bennett, had said the key message of April’s Daily Mail story about her relationship with 71-year-old theatre director Trevor Nunn was set out in the headline: “Return of the man eater”.

He told Mr Justice Tug-endhat in London: “A man eater is an animal which hunts and kills human prey. In the context of the words complained of, it means a woman who hunts men but, rather than kill and eat them, uses them for her own selfish ends.

“The use of the word ‘man eater’ excludes the possibility of romantic love or the possibility of a genuine emotional draw to another human being.

“Just as the lion hunts the deer for food, Nancy Dell’Olio hunts the millionaire for his money.”

He said Dell’Olio was not presented as the sort of intellectual with whom Nunn normally associated.

Her case was that the story meant she was a serial gold digger who cynically sought out relationships with men because they were millionaires capable of funding her lifestyle.

Mark Warby, for Associated Newspapers, said that while the article might not be wholly flattering, it did not convey the defamatory meaning complained of.

He said Dell’Olio was not called a gold digger and the article could not reasonably be read as implying that her sole motivation was money.

Warby said the term “man eater” was capable of suggesting predatory behaviour but was not the same thing as being a “serial gold digger”.

Dell’Olio was not in court to hear the judge strike out her claim.

He said: “The words complained of are not capable of bearing the meaning attributed to them by the claimant in her particulars of claim or any other defamatory meaning of which she might complain.”