Seven West Media’s ongoing Amber Harrison disaster took a spectacular new twist in the NSW Supreme Court today when the network’s lawyers released explosive emails from Harrison that threatened “a reign of terror” that would “destroy” her former lover and Seven CEO, Tim Worner.
The Melbourne-based Harrison was not present in court amid media reports she’s broke and living with her parents. However, her lawyers reportedly presented the Judge, James Catlin, with a USB stick containing 900 pages of documents said to be relevant to the case.
Lawyers for Seven are seeking a court order restraining Harrison from publishing embarrassing details and documents of her two-year affair with Worner, namely via her Twitter account.
Seven’s senior counsel Andrew Bell read out an email in court that Harrison allegedly wrote to Worner’s executive assistant in 2014 that inferred she planned to “finish destroying your idiot boss” after Worner ended their affair. “I am out to get him. This is war,” the email read.
The court also heard that Harrison planned to “unleash a reign of terror” on Worner and she was in possession of “a thousand texts from someone that I’m about to blow the roof off with”.
Earlier today the court heard from lawyers for Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph and Fairfax Media, which have teamed up to fight the injunction and have Harrison’s version of events made public.
Bell also revealed that Harrison had been paid $428,418 as part of her settlement with Seven, some $50,000 more than had been previously reported. However, the ongoing payments stopped when Harrison started going public with the affair.
Last week, SWM board member Jeff Kennett raged about the amount of shareholder money already paid to the former SWM employee and it “was too much for a consensual relationship”.
Conditions of the payment required Harrison “not to make adverse statements” and to keep all documents confidential, Bell noted.
“She has after all been paid a very significant amount of money as the price for the promises that we made,” Bell said before adding, “If her employment opportunities have suffered, it is because of the breach it has nothing to do with my client (SWM).”
In relation to the 900-page document presented by Harrison’s lawyers, Seven’s legal team asked they be redacted (censored) before being released because of “scandalous” material.
Bell said Harrison had presented the documents “for her own disgraceful purposes” with the intention of “deploying them to her advantage … in the future.”
This appears set to play out for a very, very, very long time indeed.
