Neil Morrissey Libel Victory.
The actor Neil Morrissey has successfully won his claim for libel against Associated Newspapers.
The claim concerned an article published in the Daily Mail in an issue in March 2010 which had claimed that he had been banned from a bar in France for drunken behaviour whilst staying at his Holiday home.
In August the paper made an unqualified offer of amends accepting that the article was false and they had no defence.
An apology and correction was published in Ocrtober 2010 and then an offer of compensation made.
Counsel for Morrissey told the Court that notices had gone up saying
“”Do not serve this man” because of his behaviour.
“Those assertions were not true. Most significantly, Mr Morrissey had not been banned from the bar, nor had he been drunken or rowdy in the bar.”
Morrissey said in a statement after the hearing.
“It proved impossible to agree the wording of a suitable retraction and apology but the Mail published its own tiny version of an apology which bore no relation at all to the eye-catching space given to the original article.
“My solicitor read a statement in court today in the hope that the Mail’s apology would reach more of its readers.”
The actor has accepted the offer of compensation made in November, according to his solicitor.
“In these circumstances, and this statement having been made in court, Mr Morrissey considers that he has been fully vindicated and he is happy to bring these proceedings to a close.”
Morrissey had been very unhappy about the conduct of the Mail and to a considerable financial risk to him self continued with the claim.
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