Rachel Riley has told London’s High Court how she feared for her career after an aide to Jeremy Corybn branded her ‘dangerous’ on Twitter.
The Countdown host launched a libel case against Corbyn aide Laura Murray tweeted she was ‘stupid’ for criticising the far left politician in March 2019.
Riley claims that the post lead to an online campaign against her and that rolls were on a mission to “get me fired from my job, as being someone who had advocated violence”.
She claimed in legal documents that the tweet caused ‘serious harm’ to her reputation.
In defence, Ms Murray’s lawyer claims the tweet was simply true.
(Image: PA)
In January 2019 Ms Riley shared a screenshot from Guardian columnist Owen Jones in which he spoke about an attack on former British National Party leader Nick Griffen.
Jones wrote: I think sound life advice is, if you don’t want eggs thrown at you, don’t be a Nazi.”
Riley then added for her followers: “Good advice,” she then added a red rose emoji and an egg emoji.
(Image: Getty Images)
Later, Corbyn’s aide tweeted about her boss being egged during a trip to a North London mosque.
She penned: “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. Nobody should engage with her. Ever.”
Riley’s initial claim that the tweet was defamatory was previously upheld by Mr Justice Neckline.
He now must consider if it warranted ‘serious harm’ to Riley’s reputation.
Giving her side of the situation, Riley said in a written witnessess statement: “The response to the defendant’s libel of me was a concerted attack on me and my career.
“My career is in the public domain.
“A concerted campaign was initiated to get me fired from my job, as being someone who had advocated violence.”
She added: “Unsurprisingly, people thought very badly of me because they took what the defendant had said about me at face value.”
(Image: Getty Images)
She claimed that she was then the target of an ‘onslaught of abuse’ and even took measures to improve her ‘personal home security’.
Riley said: “I feared that the defendant’s tweet would encourage vigilantism against me.
“I was very concerned that I could be easily tracked down because I am a public figure.
“The volume of abusive and threatening messages was all-consuming.”
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
