LONDON — A judge has ordered the publishers of The People tabloid to pay £75,000 damages to the natural father of a murdered child after the Sunday newspaper wrongly described him as a sex offender convicted of raping a 14-year-old girl.
Lawyers for the father, who cannot be named, said the newspaper's publishers were guilty of "one of the gravest libels imaginable".
Justice Bean, sitting in London, awarded the father his damages plus legal costs saying it is "difficult to think of any charge more calculated to lead to the revulsion and condemnation of a person's fellow citizens than the rape of a 14-year-old girl".
The false allegations appeared in The People on September 19, 2010 in an article entitled "Tortured to death as mum turned a blind eye".
Murdered child Baby P, later named as Peter Connelly, was 17 months old when he was found in a blood-splattered cot at his mother's home in Tottenham, north London, in August 2007. He had more than 50 injuries.
Tracey Connelly was jailed in 2009 after admitting causing or allowing his death.
Her boyfriend Steven Barker and their lodger, Jason Owens, Barker's brother, were found guilty at the Old Bailey on the same charge.
Heather Rogers QC, appearing for The People's owners Mirror Group Newspspers told the High Court at an earlier hearing: "This was a mistake that MGN regrets and it has apologised to the claimant, and I repeat that apology on its behalf in this court."
However she denied KC had been badly treated, or that MGN had conducted any kind of "campaign" against him, or dismissed his legitimate complaint.
Copyright © 2012 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario