4 Oct 2019

Colin Craig defends his sexual harassment appeal

From Checkpoint, 5:40 pm on 4 October 2019

Former Conservative Party leader Colin Craig says his decision to appeal a court ruling that found he'd sexually harassed his former press secretary is not driven by revenge.

Mr Craig says challenging last month's High Court decision on points of law and what he describes as issues around evidence.

Justice Hinton found that Colin Craig and and his former employee Rachel MacGregor had both defamed each other.

But she also ruled that Mr Craig had sexually harassed Ms MacGregor with letters and messages that had clear sexual content, were inappropriate and were unwelcome.

The ruling also found Mr Craig's sexual conduct had had a detrimental effect on Ms MacGregor and contributed to the serious illness she suffered at the end of her employment.

Lisa Owen asks Colin Craig if the focus of his appeal was about trying to overturn the finding of sexual harassment.

The High Court judgement found Colin Craig defamed Rachel MacGregor on a number of occasions including by suggesting she made false claims of sexual harassment and that she was liar.

Checkpoint asked Rachel McGregor for an interview - she declined and referred to us her lawyer Linda Clarke who also declined to speak.