On Air Good Friday Breakfast Chris Williams | 6:00am - 10:00am

Attorney General faces legal bill

Costs awarded against him after suing governor

Attorney General Stephen Harding has been ordered to pay costs after suing lieutenant governor Adam Wood.

Last October, he sued the governor as the queen’s representative, claiming disciplinary proceedings against him had been delayed so long they were unfair.

Mr Harding has been suspended from his £160,000 a year job for three years despite being cleared of charges of perjury and committing acts against public justice in 2014.

Now, the 54-year-old faces paying a large legal bill after the Island's Crown representative applied for almost £89,000 in costs against him.

Hearing the case, Deemster Rosen said ordinarily no costs could be awarded against the Crown, on whose behalf the governor was sued.

And he dismissed arguments that because the court found it had no jurisdiction to hear his case, it would have no jurisdiction to award costs.

Deemster Rosen said the case shouldn’t have been brought and had served no useful purpose as Mr Harding had been warned it would fail.

He awarded costs against Mr Harding.

More from Isle of Man News