Lyndelle Barnett

Ben Roberts-Smith, who is suing Fairfax for defamation, has lost an appeal of a judge’s decision refusing cross-examination of his ex-wife over allegations she accessed his private emails.

A judge has struck out part of the ABC’s defence in a lawsuit by the head of Russian motorcycle club Night Wolves over an allegedly defamatory Four Corners report.

Embattled war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith continues to pursue legal action against his ex-wife, having applied for leave to appeal a Federal Court decision disallowing cross-examination over allegations she accessed his private emails.

Decorated Afghanistan war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith has accused his ex-wife of lying to journalists, lawyers and the court in order to “seek revenge” for his alleged infidelity.

Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith told his wife she would lose access to their children if she did not lie to his lawyers and the media about his extramarital affair, a court has heard.

Australia’s most decorated Afghanistan war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith told a former SAS soldier that when he “blew the brains out” of a young Afghan man it was “the most beautiful thing [he’d] ever seen”, a court has heard.

A SAS sergeant testifying for Fairfax Media in the Ben Roberts-Smith’s defamation trial has admitted he told an investigative reporter the decorated veteran machine-gunned a disabled man during the war in Afghanistan, but insisted everything he said was true.

It was common knowledge that SAS soldiers sought the retraction of a “bulls–t” commendation awarded to war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith for acts of bravery in Afghanistan in 2012, a trial in a defamation case against Fairfax has heard.

Fairfax has accused senior counsel representing Ben Roberts-Smith of using cross-examination to try to identify the source of allegedly defamatory articles that accused the former SAS soldier of war crimes.

Eight rounds of ammunition were unloaded into the chest, neck and face of an Afghan man after decorated war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith told a subordinate to, “Shoot him or I will”, a court has heard.