CULLEN SEX SLUR RUINED MY LIFE; PR guru Leech's libel fight over 'a tsunami of lies'.

Byline: AODHAN O'FAOLAIN

PR guru Monica Leech insisted yesterday she never had an affair with Minister Martin Cullen - and accused a newspaper of wrecking her life.

She said she was the victim of a "seedy" and "dirty" campaign built on "a tsunami of lies".

Leech told The High Court in her libel action against The Evening Herald she had spent the last four-and-a-half years trying to clear her name.

And she claimed she had been abused and ridiculed because of the allegations.

Her counsel, Declan Doyle, said there "may be something of the elephant in the corner" about the question but, "Did you have an affair with Mr Cullen?".

She replied: "I was not having an affair with the Minister...for you to ask me about the elephant in the corner, it shows the damage that has been done that you feel the need to clear that up."

CATASTROPHE

Ms Leech, 49, is seeking damages against the Herald for articles it published in eight editions between November and December 2004 in which she says it was falsely claimed she got Government public relations contracts because she was having an affair with Minister Cullen, now Tourism and Sport Minister.

Independent Newspapers (Irl) Ltd denies the claims and argues the material was true in substance and fact in its natural and ordinary meanings and not those meanings contended by Ms Leech.

Ms Leech, of South Parade, Waterford, told the court the "catastrophe" befell her shortly after she had launched a new PR business with a partner and which never got off the ground as a result.

Having spent years working as a sole trader, she was invited to promote projects in 2000 on behalf of the Office of Public Works which at that stage Mr Cullen had responsibility for as a junior minister. When she saw the first of the Herald articles, on November 30, she felt it was a seedy piece which was sexist and demeaning to her in that it described her as "the pretty PR executive".

She said: "I felt completely and utterly offended to the very core."

She was disgusted that somebody would make up a controversy about her. Ms Leech added: "I do not know what the motivations were but I was hand picked and they were wrecking my life and they just did not give a damn about it."

She claimed the use of the words "PR girl" in another story was insulting and degrading and would not have been used if it was a male PR.

And she said it suited the Herald's story to use the word "girl" as she, a 44-yearold woman, was not as likely to have an affair with the Minister. Ms Leech told the court that when Mr Cullen became a senior Minister in 2003, she met him by accident in Waterford and over coffee he asked her to provide services for the Department of Environment.

Hers was the only company to be offered a six-month contract and was told that after the six months she would have to compete with other firms for a longer contract. But she said the Herald's claims that that this longer contract was got in controversial circumstances was a lie and added: "I won it on merit."

The articles continued to get "worse and worse, it was just a tsunami of lies" which people started to believe - and she was verbally and physically abused by a woman in a restaurant.

The hearing continues.

CAPTION(S):

INSULTED MsLeech at the court yesterday MINISTER Martin Cullen was implicated