Setting a dangerous precedent...

[Smooth Operator 10]

That bastard is always taking offence at the slightest jibe.

 

£10,000 damages after online abuse

A prominent member of the UK Independence Party has won £10,000 libel damages from a woman who waged an abusive internet campaign against him.

 

Michael Keith Smith, who contested the Portsmouth North constituency at the last General Election, brought High Court proceedings against Tracy Williams, who was a contributor to the same Yahoo! discussion board.

 

Ms Williams, of Tomlinson Close, Oldham, Lancashire, used a pseudonym to post claims that the 53-year-old chartered surveyor was a "nonce", a sexual offender, a racist bigot and a Nazi.

 

Addressing him as "Lardarse" or "Lardbrain", she also alleged that he had sexually harassed a female co-worker, had been charged with soliciting boys and cottaging and that he was a sexual deviant of the most perverted kind.

 

In June 2004, Mr Keith Smith, of Castle Street, Portchester, Fareham, Hants, obtained a court order requiring the site operator to disclose Ms Williams's identity.

 

Legal proceedings then started which only served to provoke her into more "frenzied abuse", said Judge Macduff QC, in London,.

 

He said that Ms Williams, who was not in court and did not file a defence to the action, had not sought to justify her statements which were clearly seriously defamatory. They continued well into 2005.

 

Assessing damages, he said that Mr Keith Smith, who had given expert evidence in the courts and served on committees for charities and schools, had a reputation of some integrity.

 

Although the libels were available to the whole world through the internet, it was likely that few people had read them and many of those who did would have dismissed them as "ramblings".

 

He awarded Mr Keith Smith £5,000 general damages plus £5,000 aggravated damages to reflect the way Ms Williams - who had met a request for an apology with contempt - had behaved. He granted an injunction preventing the publication of the same or similar libels and ordered Ms Williams to pay the costs of the action, which Mr Keith Smith put at £7,200.

[Gemmill 43946]

She sounds like a proper nutter.

[Smooth Operator 10]

I've already PM'd Manc-Mag to provide me with legal representation. I called HTL a wanker a while back. Could be the most expensive insult I've ever hurled!

[Craig 6670]

Something to do with living on the outskirts of Manchester?

[Craig 6670]

I've already PM'd Manc-Mag to provide me with legal representation. I called HTL a wanker a while back. Could be the most expensive insult I've ever hurled!

108707[/snapback]

 

Can't be classed as an 'insult' if it's true though shirley??