for the Mid-Ocean News that she could be in contempt of court for doing her duty as a solicitor acting for the paper.

The paper's lawyer Ann Frith Cartwright made the claim after Mr. Pearce served a gagging order on the newspaper on Thursday night preventing it from publishing details of memoranda between himself and the Attorney General.

Ms Frith Cartwright said Mr. Pearce told her on Friday that she could be in contempt of court for doing her job as a lawyer, which she described as an "Alice in Wonderland'' situation.

But last night Mr. Pearce said: "The suggestion that I accused her of being in contempt of court for acting as a lawyer for the newspaper is patently ridiculous.

"It is equally ridiculous that she's suggesting I was suggesting she was in contempt of court for doing her job.'' Mr. Pearce said the Supreme Court injunction obtained by Attorney General Dame Lois Browne Evans required the newspaper to hand over the documents "forthwith''.

He said he expected the documents to be handed over on Friday morning and when they were not he spoke to the Ms Frith Cartwright on Friday afternoon.

He said: "She acknowledged she had the documents and I asked her if she could deliver the documents.

"She took the position that she could keep the documents and asked what legal authority I could rely on to request the documents, which I found surprising.

"I pointed out that if she kept them, her client would be in breach, and conversely, because she was holding them, it would put her in breach as well.'' Ms Frith Cartwright could not be contacted last night.