The Sun newspaper is launching an appeal tomorrow after it was ordered to pay former Liverpool soccer star Bruce Grobbelaar £85,000 libel damages. A High Court jury returned a unanimous verdict in August last year after the goalkeeper spent five years clearing his name of match-fixing allegations. It was the third time that the 42-year-old Zimbabwean had declared his innocence of match-fixing to a jury after The Sun published a series of damning articles about him in November 1994. The civil action followed two trials at Winchester in 1997 - the first of which ended in deadlock - resulting in Grobbelaar being cleared of conspiracy, along with ex-Wimbledon stars John Fashanu and Hans Segers, and businessman Richard Lim. It was also ordered at the High Court that Grobbelaar, who said he was the victim of a classic scam, should have his estimated £400,000 legal costs met by the newspaper, which also had to foot its own £500,000 bill.
Pleading justification and qualified privilege, The Sun had alleged that Grobbelaar took £40,000 to make sure Liverpool lost 3-0 away to Newcastle in November 1993. It also said he had blown his chance of £125,000 more in a January 1994 game against Manchester United, which ended in a 3-3 draw, by accidentally making a sensational save in a match he was trying to lose. The Sun had said after the verdict that it would be seeking leave to appeal. Mr Grobbelaar, who lives with his wife and two young daughters at Tisman's Common, Rudgwick, West Sussex, had sued the newspaper and its former editor, Stuart Higgins, for substantial compensation.
Filed by Pat Nugent
