A Conservative councillor will pay “substantial” damages and legal costs to Jeremy Corbyn for tweeting a doctored photograph of the former Labour leader at the scene of the Liverpool terrorist attack.
Paul Nickerson, a councillor on East Riding of Yorkshire Council, apologised and has taken “full responsibility” for the tweet, which showed Mr Corbyn laying a poppy wreath at the burning taxi outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital.
It was captioned: “Unsurprisingly.”
Mr Corbyn said his lawyer brought legal proceedings for libel against Mr Nickerson and they have now come to an agreement but the amount the councillor has agreed to pay has not been revealed.
In his official apology, Mr Nickerson said the fake photo gave “the completely untrue impression that Jeremy Corbyn supports terrorist violence including suicide bombings”.
“Without any hesitation, I wholly accept he does not,” he added in a statement he tweeted out on Tuesday.
“Without reservation, I fully withdraw any suggestion or inference that Jeremy Corbyn is a supporter of terrorist violence.”
The councillor said the tweet was “wrong and I retract it” as he “unreservedly and sincerely” apologised to Mr Corbyn “for the hurt and distress” caused by the tweet.
He also admitted that posting the message the day after Remembrance Sunday, when the attack happened, “aggravated the hurtful nature of the defamatory tweet”.
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Liverpool bombing: What happened?
Mr Nickerson originally tweeted out an apology on the day of the photoshopped tweet but his fresh apology is part of the agreement with Mr Corbyn’s…
Source : skynews
