Countdown star Rachel Riley has been awarded £50,000 in damages after a blogger called her an abuser.
Riley is suing Michael Sivier who published an article on Vox Political on 26 January 2019.
The Channel 4 star has recently been involved in a libel case with the political blogger, who originally defended the claims on grounds of truth and honest opinion.
READ MORE: Rachel Riley smirks as she’s forced to spell out cheeky word on Channel 4’s Countdown
The headline read: “Serial abuser Rachel Riley to receive ‘extra protection’ – on grounds that she is receiving abuse”.
Within the article, Sivier discussed tweets that were posted in an online debate on antisemitism within the Labour Party.
(Image: Channel 4)
Some of the tweets involved were exchanged by Rachel and a user who identified themselves as Rose, who was 16-years-old at the time, between December 2018 and January 2019.
Mrs Justice Steyn gave her verdict today (16 November).
She said: “[Sivier] had no reasonable grounds for making the factual allegations that he did, which misrepresented the evidential picture, and the article was wholly unbalanced.”
(Image: Ian Gavan/Getty Images)
Steyn also explained that Riley had not been given a right of reply.
A judge previously found that Michael’s article would be read as though it were claiming Riley “engaged upon, supported and encourage a campaign of online abuse and harassment of a 16-year-old girl,” which are allegations denied by Rachel.
A trial took place at the High Court in London back in July and Rachel said that the amount of abuse she received increased from 9 January 2019.
She described the situation as “horrendous”.
(Image: Getty Images for Bauer Media)
However, Michael defended his claims and argued that he had “reasonable belief” that it was in the public interest to share the claims made within the article.
He had originally defended himself against the libel claim on grounds of truth and honest opinion, along with public interest.
However, back in January 2021, Mrs Justice Collins Rice struck the three defences and found that they had “no prospect” of success.
Despite this, Sivier won a challenge at the Court of Appeal four months later.
It was found that his public interest defence should be assessed at a trial.
READ MORE:
For more of the latest showbiz news from Daily Star, make sure you sign up to one of our newsletters here.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
