Laurence Fox to make appeal bid against libel judgments after ‘paedophile’ row

world
Laurence Fox To Make Appeal Bid Against Libel Judgments After ‘Paedophile’ Row
The actor-turned-politician was ordered to pay a total of £180,000 to two people he libelled on social media in a ruling earlier this year. Photo: PA Images
Share this article

Jess Glass, PA Law Editor

Laurence Fox is making a bid to challenge High Court rulings after he was ordered to pay a total of £180,000 in damages to two people he libelled when he referred to them as paedophiles on social media.

The actor-turned-politician was successfully sued by former Stonewall trustee Simon Blake and drag artist Crystal over a row on Twitter, now known as X.

Advertisement

Mr Fox called Mr Blake and the former RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant, whose real name is Colin Seymour, “paedophiles” in an exchange about a decision by Sainsbury’s to mark Black History Month in October 2020.

In judgments in January and April, Mrs Justice Collins Rice ruled in favour of Mr Blake and Mr Seymour and said Mr Fox should pay the pair £90,000 each in damages.

The judge dismissed Mr Fox’s counter claims against the pair and broadcaster Nicola Thorp over tweets accusing him of racism.

According to court records, the Reclaim Party founder is now seeking permission to appeal against the judge’s rulings.

Advertisement

Laurence Fox libel case
Simon Blake, Nicola Thorp and Colin Seymour attended the trial in November 2023 in London (Lucy North/PA)

No hearing date has been set.

Following the January judgment where Mrs Justice Collins Rice found Mr Fox had libelled Mr Blake and Mr Seymour, the former Lewis star described the ruling as a “nothing burger” and said that “here we are sat, two million bloody quid in”.

Advertisement

Mr Fox said at the time he planned to appeal against the ruling to get a meaning of the word racist.

In her judgment in April, Mrs Justice Collins Rice said Mr Blake and Mr Seymour are “entitled to a complete vindication, the undoing of the reputational impact of the libels and the resumption of public and private life without any trace on their characters of the long and dark shadow cast by even the most casual public bandying about of allegations of criminal paedophilia”.

The judge also said there “is no element of punishing Mr Fox” in awarding the sum of damages, adding: “It is a purely compensatory award to redress the damage done and restore the equilibrium that his libels violated, and which he has not taken the opportunity to restore more fully himself.”

Read More

Message submitting... Thank you for waiting.

Want us to email you top stories each lunch time?

Download our Apps
© BreakingNews.ie 2024, developed by Square1 and powered by PublisherPlus.com