On 23 November 1912, the "Daily Mail" published serious false allegations against Vicars. The substance of the article was that Vicars had allowed a woman reported to be his mistress to obtain a copy to the key to the safe and that she had fled to Paris with the jewels. In July 1913 Vicars successfully sued the paper for libel; the paper admitted that the story was completely baseless and that the woman in question did not exist. Vicars was awarded damages of £5,000.