By BETH HALE

Last updated at 16:40 03 March 2008

Denial: Austen Ivereigh yesterday

The former spokesman for the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England yesterday denied being a hypocrite who, having made two girlfriends pregnant, "drove them to consider abortion".

Austen Ivereigh, once one of Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor's closest advisers, was a post-graduate student in Oxford in 1989 when the first of the women became pregnant.

She told the Daily Mail two years ago how Mr Ivereigh, now 41, "manoeuvred" her into a position where she had no choice but to abort their baby.

The ex-girlfriend told the Mail in a 2006 article read out in the High Court yesterday: "This man is a hypocrite. He can't condemn abortion, and the women who have an abortion, but then get women pregnant and absolve himself of any responsibility to support them or their child."

More recently, while working as head of public affairs for the cardinal, Mr Ivereigh got another girlfriend pregnant with twins.

This woman was contemplating abortion and, after their relationship floundered, she suffered a miscarriage, the court was told.

Speaking in court on the first day of a libel case against Associated Newspapers, publishers of the Daily Mail, Mr Ivereigh - a practising Catholic - fiercely denied he had been hypocritical.

With both women sitting in court, his lawyer Ronald Thwaites QC told the jury that there were some women who "bitterly regretted" having an abortion and "seek to blame others for what was their decision".

He added: "That may be a factor you find was present in this case, you must await the evidence."

Mr Ivereigh - who admitted to struggling with church teaching against sex before marriage - claims he lost his job as head of public affairs because of the Mail article.

Mr Thwaites said the story had robbed Mr Ivereigh of his moral authority, destroyed his credibility and ruined his reputation.

"It falsely alleged that he was a hypocrite for not practising what he preached in relation to the issue of abortion," he said.

He added that Catholics would have read into it that Mr Ivereigh - who admitted paying half of the cost of his girlfriend's abortion - was guilty of procuring an abortion and should be excommunicated.

"For this man few things could be more serious or devastating than that," he told Mr Justice Eady.

Mr Thwaites said that when the first woman became pregnant they were prepared to have the baby, but did not want to marry.

At the heart of the libel action are the words of the former girlfriend, who told the Mail in 2006: "I wanted to keep the baby. I hoped Austen and I would get married.

"But he made it clear that he would not support me and would play no part in the child's upbringing.

"I was devastated. He manoeuvred me into a position where I felt I had no choice but to have a termination."

Yesterday Mr Ivereigh said: "I found it very hard to believe she was saying this."

He had been "utterly opposed" to the abortion and had offered support. Despite his grief, he supported her after the termination, he said.

In 2005 he began a relationship with a divorcee with two children - named as Miss X in court.

Mr Ivereigh proposed when she became pregnant, the court heard. He said: "I believed this was really God saying to me - come on, time for marriage, time for commitment."

But "problems arose" and he felt he could not marry her.

He insisted he had offered to help in any way possible with the twins. But Mr Ivereigh claimed she told him "you have left me with no choice but to have an abortion".

He said that after he had sent Miss X a letter offering help and saying his family would bring up the twins, he rang her to ask if he could know when the abortion was happening.

He choked with emotion as he told the jury: "She said 'What? So you can get on your knees and beg for mercy like the hypocrite that you are'."

He added: "She had obviously dismissed my letter. I was determined to fight for those children."

Mark Warby QC, for Associated Newspapers, said the first woman had accused Mr Ivereigh of failing to support her, acting hypocritically and that drove her to consider an abortion.

He added: "Miss X says you didn't offer her any practical or realistic support and she said it at the time.

"She says you forced her into considering an abortion . . . She has accused you of being a hypocrite."

Mr Ivereigh denied having "vindictive feelings" towards both women.

He agreed that it was a sin in the eyes of the church to have sex outside marriage, but denied being hypocritical, saying: "This is one area of church teaching that I have always struggled with and failed to live out. It doesn't mean I don't believe it."

The hearing continues.