Website pays out £100,000 for defamation

Court hears of daily barrage of anonymous allegations

Iain Thomson

The chief executive of housing group Gentoo has been awarded £100,000 after a long campaign of online smears.

Dads Place Publications subjected Peter Walls to numerous anonymous defamatory statements, suggesting that he was involved in a variety of nefarious activities on a professional and personal basis.

Advertisement

Hugh Tomlinson QC, representing Walls, said: "Dads Place used their publications, and in particular the website, to conduct a malicious, unpleasant and relentless campaign of libel and harassment.

"Walls was forced to withstand an almost daily barrage of anonymous allegations, threats and abuse, and suffered very serious damage to his professional and personal reputation."

The site was run by John Finn of Pallion Housing, via a staff member, and Finn has admitted to the campaign. He has agreed to pay £100,000 to Walls, £5,000 to Gentoo and £14,000 to other staff members of the company.

"No amount of money can compensate my family for the distress these outrageous and false statements have caused us," said Walls outside the High Court.

No amount of money can compensate my family for the distress these false statements have caused

Peter Walls Gentoo

"What was particularly frightening was the fact that we did not know who was doing this or why.

"There is no doubt that the internet can be a fantastic tool for good, but we urgently need legal change to enable victims of internet abuse to have a quicker and more effective route to justice."

  • Have your say
  • Send to a friend
  • Print
  • Digg
  • Reddit
  • Share

Tags:

Do you agree?

Further reading

Jimmy Wales

Jimmy Wales in cash for articles allegation

Wikipedia co-founder in trouble again

Patricia Cornwell sues 'cyber-stalker'

Crime novelist fears for her safety over 'Nazi' claims

California court rules on web defamation

Website owners 'not responsible for third-party comments'

Bulletin board libel leads to $11.3m damages

Florida court sets a new precedent

Related whitepapers

Related jobs

Most watched

Social networking

Summit: How businesses should manage their brands online

In part one of V3.co.uk's interview with Dirk Singer, he dicusses social media monitoring strategies

RIM discusses new developer tools

Blackberry exec on the latest offerings for programmers

Analysis and Reports

Remote access - Three steps to getting connected

3.4 million UK professionals now work from home – is your company equipped?

Cost benefits of a global collaboration network

This white paper is a must read for organisations looking for evidence of the bottom-line benefits of high-definition video and voice communications

Poll

Impact of Information Overload poll

Impact of Information Overload poll

What is the biggest problem your firm faces as a result of the data explosion?

View poll results

Advertisement

White paper library

Keep up to date with the latest products, services and technologies from the world's leading IT companies; IThound.com brings you over 6,000 white papers, case studies and analyst reports.

Advertisement

Newsletter signup

Sign up for our range of FREE newsletters:

Existing User

Newsletter user login:

Enter email address to edit your newsletter preferences

Job of the week

Search thousands of IT jobs :

Search thousands of IT jobs:

Advanced search

Hiring now on ComputingCareers:

Related IT jobs

Search thousands of IT jobs :

Search thousands of IT jobs:

Advanced search

Advertisement

Spotlight

simon perry

Comment: Information overload is a price worth paying if it helps the planet

Analyst Simon Perry argues that the data deluge doesn't have...

Summit: Views From the Valley

V3.co.uk's US office weighs in on the information overload crisis

money

Summit: Managing information overload in a recession

Balancing exploding data with shrinking budgets

Chambers outlines Cisco's corporate plans

CEO describes broader company focus

Primary Navigation