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March 14, 2016

Daily Mail apologises and pays damages to woman who painted red stripes on front of Kensington townhouse

By PA Medialawyer and Press Gazette

A woman who painted her Kensington townhouse in red and white stripes has settled her libel action over newspaper allegations that she mistreated her late husband's son and his family over inheritance claims.

Businesswoman Zipporah Lisle-Mainwaring brought High Court proceedings over two articles which appeared in April last year.

On Monday, she accepted an undisclosed sum in damages, which she will donate to charity, her legal costs and an unreserved apology from Associated Newspapers.

She has separately lodged a claim against Associated Newspapers for “harassment” over its coverage of her and for breach of copyright over its reproduction of watercolours and paintings.

Her counsel, Sara Mansoori, told Mr Justice Nicol in London that the newspaper had now accepted that the claims were untrue.

The articles wrongly repeated allegations made by Robert Lisle, her late husband's son, and his second wife, Sally, that Ms Lisle-Mainwaring had unreasonably denied them money that they claimed had been promised to them and was properly due to them.

The publication had a detrimental effect on her reputation among friends, family and business associates, and caused her acute distress and embarrassment, said counsel.

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Christina Michalos, for Associated Newspapers, said that a few days after publication, it added a footnote to the online version of the second article explaining Ms Lisle-Mainwaring's generosity to her late husband's son and his family.

It subsequently removed both articles in their entirety and had undertaken not to publish similar allegations in future.

One article was published on the Mail Online website and another appeared on the Mail Online and as a Daily Mail article.

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