HEAVY LIBEL DAMAGES

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 904, 22 February 1930, Page 9

HEAVY LIBEL DAMAGES

PRINCE CAROL’S HOST WINS ACTION NEWSPAPER LOSES £12,000 LONDON, Thursday. After a hearing of his case that lasted for 13 days in the King's Bench Division a Rumanian, Mr. Barbu Jonesco. who was Prince Carol’s host during his stay in England in 1928, was awarded £12,000 damages for libel against the “Evening Standard.” The newspaper had alleged that his name originally was not Jonesco, that he was not really a Rumanian, but a Pole, who came to England with the Belgian refugees in wartime. Mr. Jonesco’s counsel said he was respected and prosperous until the allegation, after which people regarded him as an impostor, which resulted in his bankruptcy. Lengthy evidence, much of it taken on commission, was brought from Rumania to support the declaration that plaintiff’s name had always been Jonesco. He was born in 1885. A plea of justification was entered for the defence, which alleged that his name was Moritz Lieba, and that he was born in 1891. his father being of Polish descent. The costs in the case are estimated to be £20,000..

Prince Carol of Rumania, when in England in May, 1928, issued a manifesto calling on the Rumanians to oust the young King Michael, and the Home Secretary informed the Prince that his presence in England was no longer welcome. He left almost immediately.