Al Fayed firm cleared by court to use documents

DISCLOSURE: Lewis Silkin acted reasonably after police error

City firm Lewis Silkin was last week cleared to use documents that had been mistakenly disclosed to the firm after the Court of Appeal threw out a challenge to their admissibility.

The firm is acting for Mohamed Al Fayed and others in a claim for wrongful arrest and imprisonment in 1998 in connection with the burglary of the late tycoon Tiny Rowland's safety deposit box in Harrods.

Metropolitan Police lawyers mistakenly disclosed two opinions from counsel to Lewis Silkin, and then won an injunction to order their return and prevent their use.

Overturning the injunction, the Court of Appeal said the usual common law tests should be applied.

This means that solicitors who receive such documentation may use it if they did not know it was disclosed by accident, and if a reasonable solicitor would not have known that it was sent by mistake.

The court held that Lewis Silkin partner Thomas Coates and Sally Johnson, who has recently been made up, had not realised that the documents were sent to them erroneously.

'While a solicitor might have concluded that a mistake had been made, it was by no means obvious,' Lord Justice Clarke said, adding that a reasonable solicitor could have concluded it was not a mistake in the circumstances.

The victory paves the way for Lewis Silkin to use the documents in the main trial next week.

Mr Coates said there will be another application before the trial after a judge ruled that it should be heard without a jury.

Mr Al Fayed and the other claimants will seek permission to appeal against the decision and have a jury trial, he said.

Jeremy Fleming