London, Monday, March 24, 1997
[9:51 am]Dear Sirs,
For
the Immediate Attention of your Legal
Department
Sky
showings of the movie "The Young Poisoner's
Handbook"
During the coming month you
will be broadcasting the above named product of what
appears to be a joint British-German production company.
It purports to be based on a true story. I have been
informed (March 3 and 21) by my American attorneys that
there is a passage in this movie in which the principal
character, an English psychopath and murderer, is shown
giving as a Christmas present a book written by me namely
THE TRAIL OF THE FOX. The camera
clearly shows the title and author.
This book, a widely
praised biography of Field Marshal Erwin
Rommel, was published by the most reputable companies
around the world. The production company must have
deliberately searched to obtain this book, which has been
out of print for many years, particularly in the edition
shown. In the context of the movie, this unauthorised
portrayal of my book is prima facie libellous under the
Defamation Act 1996 and the Broadcasting Act. If your
legal department fails to appreciate the innuendoes
involved, I urge them to view the movie, and take note
particularly inter alia of the content of the
"psychopath's" bulletin board.
I request that you fax and mail to me a
binding and immediate undertaking either to excise the
scene concerned completely, or at very least to place an
electronic smudge over the title and jacket of the book
THE TRAIL OF THE FOX throughout
its appearance, rendering it totally illegible and
unrecognisable, during each and every transmission of
this movie within the jurisdiction of the British courts,
both now and in the future.
If I do not receive this very reasonable
undertaking by the close of business tomorrow (Tuesday)
evening I shall instruct solicitors to commence
injunction and if need be defamation proceedings in the
High Court, and I give due notice that I shall claim
substantial damages for libel for each and every occasion
on which Sky Television Ltd and cable companies broadcast
this movie if not amended in the way suggested above. I
also reserve my rights to proceed against the production
company involved.
You should be aware that I am the object of
a concerted global campaign of defamation by various
non-governmental agencies; that I won substantial
damages from a Sunday newspaper for libel two years ago;
and that I am already pursuing very vigorously two libel
actions in the High Court, and am undertaking the
necessary procedures to commence a third. Please confirm
that your Reg. Office is as below.
Yours sincerely,
David Irving
FOCAL POINT PUBLICATIONS
To Sky Television Ltd
Grant Way, Isleworth
Middx. TW7 5QD
by mail and fax to Legal Dept. 705 3254
write
to David Irving