- guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 21 December 1999 16.18 GMT
I would never have embarked on this action had I been guilty of the charges against me.
I could have thrown in the towel in 1995 when the Guardian secured a stay in my libel action against them but I changed the law and got an amendment in the Bill of Rights
It is difficult to see how anybody could have concluded I am guilty of these charges considering the huge efforts that I have made to clear my name
This case has, however, enabled me for the first time to present the facts, and no evidence other than the word of Mr Fayed and his close employees has to this day been produced to sustain the grave charge that I accepted cash for questions.
I do not regret bringing the case, of course, because I could not have gone through life without straining every sinew to do everything that was possible to bring the truth out. Sadly the jury were not convinced.
The waters were muddied at the very beginning of the trial when, on to Mr Fayed's allegations were clamped entirely unrelated ones connected to a consultancy I had with Mobil Oil.
It may well be that the questions the jury asked the judge during the trial, that that is what has secured this verdict.
It is the beginning of a new road, I'm not sure where it leads but I will find out.
