Carman's companion wins damages over claim that she manipulated his will

It was a moment of triumph that the late George Carman would undoubtedly have savoured with his usual flair.

Yesterday, the renowned libel lawyer's longstanding companion, Karen Phillipps, won a public apology and substantial damages from the Daily Mail, claiming the newspaper had implied she was a manipulative mistress who had been after his money.

In the courts where the flamboyant QC had defended countless newspapers with his unique style, Ms Phillipps' lawyer announced that the newspaper had capitulated before the libel case began.

Mr Carman's formidable courtroom skills earned him a host of high-profile clients and fees of more than a £1m a year by the mid-1990s. One colleague said: "George doesn't clear his throat for less than £1,000."

In August 2000 the QC announced with "regret and great reluctance" that he was retiring from practice. He died five months later from prostate cancer, aged 71.

Ms Phillipps, a barrister described as his "longstanding friend and companion", agreed to withdraw her libel action after the Daily Mail apologised and offered undisclosed damages as well as payment of her costs. The court heard that the dispute arose over an article in the newspaper last March which was headlined: "A deathbed will, a secret tape and the latest twist in the simmering row between George Carman's mistress and his son."

Her solicitor, Robin Shaw, told Mr Justice Roy Eady that his client was "extremely upset" by the "wholly untrue" article which she felt accused her of "manipulating a very ill, confused and dying Mr Carman into making or altering his will on his deathbed so as to make her the largest beneficiary". The article also alleged, in Miss Phillipps' view, that she had claimed to have nursed Mr Carman selflessly, when, it said, she was only concerned in gaining financially, Mr Shaw added. It claimed she had refused to deliver to Mr Carman's son Dominic, personal possessions left to him in his father's will.

The matter was exacerbated by an earlier dispute with the newspaper which resulted in the Daily Mail being forced to apologise for calling her a "mistress of manipulation".

After the advocate's death, Ms Phillipps revealed that her 15-year relationship with Mr Carman had been intense, volatile but always platonic. Although Mr Carman changed his will shortly before his death benefiting her as well as his son, whose inheritance was placed in trust, she insisted that money was never a factor of their relationship. His estate, eroded by medical treatment, was then worth £2.6m.Ms Phillipps said: "I resent the implication that I was trying to influence George on his deathbed."

Ms Phillipps and Dominic Carman became embroiled in a very public row after Dominic, then 40, wrote a biography implying that his father was a womaniser, wife-beater, secret bisexual and alcoholic.

Ms Phillipps described it as "ungenerous, titillating and cowardly" and defended Mr Carman's reputation, insisting that he was not secretly gay and she had never seen him drink excessively or behave violently.

She said she was wounded by Dominic Carman's suggestions that she had maintained a relationship with his father for financial gain. "I wasn't what you'd call a kept woman," she said. "George didn't contribute towards my flat or pay any of my expenses."

Yesterday's apology from the Daily Mail's publishers, Associated Newspapers, and from the journalist who wrote the article, Rebecca Hardy, made clear that they accepted Ms Phillipps did not deliberately set out to influence the will.

Mr Shaw said: "Ms Phillipps would like to take the opportunity to make it clear that the allegations published by the defendants were wholly untrue and at no time did she seek to benefit financially from her friendship with Mr Carman. Any suggestion she improperly benefited from Mr Carman's will, or set out to do so, is false. She had no input at all in to the will's contents, which was prepared by Mr Carman's solicitors."