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June 8, 2006updated 22 Nov 2022 7:43pm

Army chief wins Times case

By Press Gazette

The former commandant of the Sandhurst military academy on Wednesday accepted a public apology and "substantial" but undisclosed damages over an article on the Times website headlined "Oh do stop blubbing and shut up".

Mr Justice Eady was told at London's High Court that the article in question described Major General Andrew Ritchie as "head honcho" at Sandhurst and went on to claim that he had taken early retirement at 52 and that colleagues reported that the stress of looking after Princes Harry and William had "left him fearing for his health".

On Wednesday, Ritchie's solicitor, Gerard Tyrrell, told the judge: "The allegations concerning Maj Gen Andrew Ritchie which form the basis of the article are untrue and without any foundation.

"No attempt was made by the defendants to contact either the claimant or indeed Sandhurst before the story was published in order to check upon the accuracy of the story."

He continued : "The actual position is that the claimant has neither quit his

job at Sandhurst and nor has he been suffering from stress. The claimant in fact held the post of commandant at Sandhurst for some 40 months, which is the longest period in charge for any commandant for some 20 years."

He said a successor to Ritchie was appointed in January last year in accordance with the normal procedure of planning for the succession of senior positions in the army, and he later resigned after being head-hunted as director of Goodenough College.

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"His reasons for leaving the army have absolutely nothing to do with stress, or to do with either of the two princes," said Tyrrell. "The claimant is a highly trained soldier who prides himself not unnaturally upon his professionalism.

He has been trained to deal with stress and has a proven ability to deal with far more stressful events than running Sandhurst."

He said Times Newspapers accepted that the allegations were "false and defamatory". The company apologised and had agreed to pay damages and the general's legal costs.

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

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