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Pizzey wins damages over Angry Brigade libel in Marr's book
Paul Cheston, Courts Correspondent1 Apr 2009
CAMPAIGNER Erin Pizzey today accepted undisclosed libel damages over a claim in a book by Andrew Marr that she was a supporter of a British terror group.
Ms Pizzey, who set up the country's first women's refuge in Chiswick in 1972, had brought High Court proceedings against Macmillan Publishers, who brought out Marr's A History Of Modern Britain.
Her solicitor, Edward Yell, told Mrs Justice Sharp that it referred to her being a "cadet enthusiast" with the Angry Brigade, but broke with the group over its plan to bomb the Kensington boutique Biba in May 1971.
"These allegations are entirely without foundation. Ms Pizzey has never been a sympathiser or supporter of the Angry Brigade or their violent methods or their objectives, as Macmillan Publishers accepts. Macmillan is here today to withdraw the allegation unreservedly and to apologise for the distress and embarrassment which the publication has caused to Ms Pizzey."
Macmillan's solicitor, Niri Shan, said that Marr had intended to make an entirely complimentary reference to Ms Pizzey - that she quit the milieu of radical politics to go off and do something self-evidently useful, but accepted that the phrase could be easily misinterpreted.
The phrase originated from a misreading of words used in a newspaper article, he told the court.
Mr Shan said the publishers accepted that Ms Pizzey was never a supporter of the Angry Brigade, apologised and had agreed to pay a significant sum to compensate her and her reasonable costs.
Afterwards, Ms Pizzey said: "I am both relieved and delighted that this matter has now been amicably resolved."
The Stoke Newington-based group launched a string of bombing attacks against the heart of the Establishment in the Seventies. No one was killed. After a clampdown, four radicals were sentenced to 10 years in prison.
