~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~54~RS~)
South East Wales
Twitter libel: Caerphilly councillor pays rival £3,000
The High Court in Cardiff heard the Twitter libel case between two councillors
A Caerphilly county councillor is to pay £3,000 and costs to a political rival for posting a libellous comment on Twitter.
Colin Elsbury had claimed that Eddie Talbot had been removed from a polling station by police during the a council by-election in 2009.
Town councillor Mr Talbot said the untrue claim left him open to ridicule.
Cllr Elsbury agreed to pay compensation and legal costs and to publish an apology via Twitter.
Eddie Talbot was a Caerphilly town councillor seeking election to the county council as an independent in the by-election held in Caerphilly's St Martin's ward in June 2009.
Colin Elsbury, the Plaid Cymru candidate and eventual winner, wrote on his Twitter page on the day of the poll: "It's not in our nature to deride our opponents however Eddie Talbot had to be removed by the Police from a polling station."
Eddie Talbot (left) said the tweet by Colin Elsbury (right) left him open to ridicule Cllr Talbot's solicitor Nigel Jones told the court that the implication of the Twitter statement was that his client had been forcibly removed for criminal or disreputable conduct, adding that the allegation was completely untrue and defamatory.
The man targeted by the tweet - who came second in the closely-fought six way by-election - says the statement left him open to ridicule.
The High Court in Cardiff heard that Cllr Elsbury had agreed to pay Cllr Talbot £3,000 in compensation, to publish an apology on his Twitter site, and pay legal costs, understood to be substantial.
After the case, Mr Talbot said he had suffered "anger", "upset" and "ridicule" over the comment.
Mr Jones said it sent a message out to people to be careful what they said on social network sites, as it could prove "expensive".
Mr Elsbury, who was unable to attend the hearing because his wife is in hospital, said: "This was a genuine case of mistaken identity which I have acknowledged."
He said he had agreed to pay compensation and had offered to settle by making a substantial donation to charity or a good cause but this was not accepted.
"The issue of costs will now be the subject of independent adjudication," he said.
"This case will no doubt act as a warning to people, including politicians, to be extremely careful when using Twitter and other social media such as blogs."
BBC South East Wales
-
Man admits killing nurse at home A man admits killing a nurse at her home after she befriended him while both were patients at a Cardiff hospital.
-
Fire badly burns 'rough sleeper'
Weather
Cardiff
Thursday day weather
- Sunny Intervals
- Max: 11°C
- Min: 3°C
- Wind: WSW 19mph
Top Stories
Rebels forced from Libya oil portFeatures & Analysis
-
Facing the Taliban Will these young Afghan recruits be ready in time?
-
Sting in the tail The manifold reasons why bees are in trouble
-
Day in pictures Striking images from around the world
-
Harding on Africa Ivory Coast D-day could be the difference between war and peace
Elsewhere on BBC News
-
The sky's the limit Demand for housing in China shrugs off a new property tax and continues to soar
Programmes
-
HARDtalk An adviser to Libya's rebel forces warns of 'catastrophe' if the international community does not intervene
bbc.co.uk navigation
BBC links
BBC © MMXI The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.
This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.
Feed: BBC News - Home
Posted on: Thursday, March 10, 2011 9:04 PM
Author: BBC News - Home
Subject: Councillor pays for Twitter libel
| A county councillor is to pay £3,000 and costs to a political rival for posting a libellous comment on social networking site Twitter. |
No comments:
Post a Comment