A jury hearing a libel action brought by Richard Desmond, owner of the Daily Express, against the author of a biography of Conrad Black was discharged today after "fundamental" evidence emerged.

Mr Desmond, whose Northern & Shell company owns the Express newspaper group, sued Tom Bower over claims in his 2006 biography of the jailed former newspaper proprietor that Mr Desmond had abused his position and been forced into a humiliating climbdown by Black.

The case was only in its second day when Mr Justice Eady today told the jury that he had to discharge them as a result of fundamental and important legal submissions in their absence. The case is now due to restart on Monday with a new jury.

Conrad and Lady Black mentions Mr Desmond only over two pages. Mr Bower says that the Express owner ordered the Sunday Express to report in 2002 that Lord Black’s then company, Hollinger, was facing “its biggest crisis ever” after “a credit facility was cancelled by its bankers”.

Mr Desmond is complaining the statement implied that the newspaper’s owner interfered in the content of the tabloid title, causing it to run a story that he was forced to apologise to Lord Black for a few months later. He denies ordering that the story be written, and claims the error is defamatory.

Yesterday, Ian Winter, QC, told Mr Justice Eady and a jury at the High Court in London that the allegations contained in the book, were defamatory and wholly false.

It was “palpable nonsense” that Mr Desmond ordered an Express paper to run a story, in November 2002, that Hollinger was facing financial crisis out of revenge for losing a court dispute with Black over a printing plant. Mr Desmond had nothing to do with the story and it had no connection with the dispute of 18 months before, Mr Winter said.

Mr Bower denies libel and argues that what he wrote about Mr Desmond was substantially true and was not, in any event, defamatory.

Mr Justice Eady, the senior libel judge, has presided over a series of high-profile cases, including this year's High Court action by Max Mosley, the president of the motor racing body, the FIA, against the News of the World.

The judge sparked controversy when he ruled the Sunday tabloid had invaded Mr Mosley’s privacy by taking photographs of him in a private residence taking part in group sex. Many commentators accused the judge of trying to introduce a law of privacy – which does not specifically exist in UK legislation - by the back door.

Paul Dacre, editor of the Daily Mail, accused Mr Justice Eady of using human rights laws to curb the press's freedom to expose the moral shortcomings of those in high places. In a fierce attack, Mr Dacre said that his “arrogant and amoral” judgments were “inexorably and insidiously” imposing a privacy law on British newspapers.

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