UK: Shadow justice secretary wins £30,000 libel payout after tabloid ‘Nazi’ smear
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Richard Burgon
Shadow Justice Secretary Richard Burgon has won £30,000 in damages from a tabloid newspaper that claimed he had performed with a band which “delights in Nazi symbols”.
Mr Burgon, MP for Leeds East, launched the unusual libel proceedings against The Sun in connection with a story published in mid-April 2017, just before the snap general election was announced.
Headlined “Reich and Roll: Labour’s justice boss ridiculed after he joins a heavy metal band that delights in Nazi symbols”, it said Mr Burgon has recorded a song with local band Dream Tröll, which it alleged had paid homage to Hitler’s SS.
However, Mr Justice James Dingemans in the High Court in London agreed with Mr Burgon that the band had merely tweeted an image which parodied a Black Sabbath album cover, The Guardian reports.
The judge said the band “produced an image based on the Black Sabbath album cover which used stylised ‘S’s, which some persons might consider to be similar to the ‘S’s used in the ‘SS’ symbol”, but had not paid tribute to the Nazis.
The Sun has said it will appeal the ruling, as it will otherwise “act as a brake on the ability of the free press to hold those in power to account and to scrutinise the judgment of those who aspire to the highest offices in the land”.
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