Countdown presenter Rachel Riley is appearing in court today for her libel claim against ex-senior aide to Jeremy Corbyn, Laura Murray.
The TV personality claims her reputation was damaged after Murray posted a tweet which labelled her “dangerous”.
Now Mr Justice Nicklin has begun overseeing the trial at the High Court in London, on Monday.
Laura Murray is disputing the claim.
William Bennett QC told Mr Justice Nicklin that the tweet posted by Laura around two years ago caused “serious harm” to Riley, 35.
She posted the tweet on March 3, 2019, after an egg was hurled at Jeremy Corbyn, then Labour leader.
(Image: PA)
The projectile was lobbed by a Brexit supporter while he visited Finsbury Park Mosque in north London.
Riley originally retweeted a January 2019 post made by Guardian columnist Owen Jones, about an attack on former British National Party leader Nick Griffin.
Jones had written: “I think sound life advice is, if you don’t want eggs thrown at you, don’t be a Nazi.”
Riley added to the tweet: “Good advice” with a red rose and egg emoji.
(Image: PA)
But Laura Murray got involved later, as she tweeted: “Today Jeremy Corbyn went to his local mosque for Visit My Mosque Day, and was attacked by a Brexiteer.
“Rachel Riley tweets that Corbyn deserves to be violently attacked because he is a Nazi.
“This woman is as dangerous as she is stupid,” the tweet continued. “Nobody should engage with her. Ever.”
Riley has sued Murray for libel, adding that the tweet contained “defamatory statements of fact” about her.
(Image: PA)
Barrister Mr Bennett told the judge: “We do say that the tweet complained of did cause serious harm.
“She was accused of risking inciting violence and told she was dangerous.”
He explained that the tweet had been published to a “huge number of people”.
But the barrister representing Murray disagreed with the case put forward, as William McCormick QC told the judge in a written case outline, that the tweet was “true”.
(Image: PA)
“The claimant (Ms Riley) chose to tweet to her 625,000-plus followers about a violent attack in a manner which was both stupid and dangerous,” he added.
“It was obvious that her tweet would provoke hostile reactions of the kind that did in fact emerge.
“What the defendant (Ms Murray) tweeted was true, reflected her honestly-held opinions and was a responsible exercise of her own rights of expression on a matter of real public importance.”
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Mr McCormick said it was “tolerably clear” that Riley had “wrongly regarded” the libel claim as part of an ongoing dispute over anti-Semitism in the Labour Party.
But he argued the case was not about anti-Semitism, but instead the “need for restraint in public discourse”.
He acknowledged that the issue was one Riley “feels strongly” about.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
