Meade accused of failing to gather all of the facts in ongoing defamation case

Noel Meade was accused in the High Court on Friday of failing to gather all of the facts before calling on the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board to investigate its head of security Chris Gordon, following the random stable inspection of Liz Doyle's premises in March 2014.

Chairman of the Irish Racehorse Trainers Association, which Gordon is suing for defamation, Meade reiterated that comments made in a contentious Irish Field interview were aimed at Department of Agriculture inspector Louis Reardon and not the regulator’s head of security.

In that interview, which is central to the case and was published in August 2014, Meade commented on a lack of professionalism by inspectors and claimed trainers were being treated like criminals.

Despite the fact that no official complaint was made against Reardon, and the IRTA drafted a solicitor's letter about Gordon’s conduct during these joint inspections, Meade maintained that the comments were solely directed at Reardon.

Meade told the court: "I have no doubt that everybody that is in racing knows exactly who I was talking about."

Chris Gordon: is suing the Irish Racehorse Trainers Association for defamationCredit: Patrick McCann

During cross examination, SC Mark Harty asked Meade if he was saying everybody in racing knew that he was not referring to Gordon, and the trainer responded: "I suppose that might be a bit broader than it should be."

Meade claims that Gordon fabricated a document with the intention of entrapping Doyle on the morning her stable was inspected in March 2014, which has proved a catalyst of the case.

SC Harty challenged Meade as to what Reardon did that was worse than trying to entrap somebody.

Meade pointed SC Harty to the article, leading to passages being read aloud in court, followed by the question: "Is that worse or better than fabricating evidence in order to entrap somebody?"

It was agreed by Meade that none of the claims made in the article were worse than fabricating evidence in order to entrap somebody into a confession of wrongdoing.

SC Harty went on to label Meade’s suggestion that he was speaking solely about Reardon and not Gordon in that Irish Field interview as "absurd".

Earlier, it was put to Meade that it could be detrimental to Doyle’s training career if she was found to have been associating with disgraced former vet John Hughes. Meade agreed.

SC Harty then asked Meade how the accusation that someone was planting or fabricating evidence could impact on their career.

Meade responded: "I'd say it wouldn't be good. It wouldn't be good for their career."

Harty also probed Meade as to what steps he took before calling on what was then the Turf Club to investigate Gordon’s conduct and claimed it would be reckless to make such assertions without trying to make sure such information was correct.

Meade repeated his evidence from Thursday, as well as revealing that no formal investigation was made into the claims made by Liz Doyle.

"From the first time I met Liz and she told me what happened I believed her," Meade said. "We spoke to my colleagues and they all believed her. We then brought the matter to Frank Ward Solicitors and everybody was very confident that what Liz was saying was correct."

SC Harty then put it to Meade that perfectly decent and honest people could misremember something or get the wrong end of the stick, which Meade agreed with.

That sparked Harty to ask: "Well then, why do you say to everybody, including in this courtroom, that if they don't agree with Liz Doyle, you're calling her a liar?"

The case will enter its fifth week on Tuesday at 11am when Meade will continue to be cross examined.

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