A prominent dog trainer has received a public apology and undisclosed libel damages over a magazine article that he claimed linked him with allegations of animal cruelty.
Mr Justice Gray was told that Dog World carried an article on cruelty to dogs by a trainer called Stephen King, whose full name was Stephen Barry King. However, some readers believed the article referred to Stephen Geoffrey King, solicitor Michael Skrein told the judge.
He said Stephen Geoffrey King, of Romford, was a well-known and highly respected dog trainer, author and lecturer and expert in animal behaviour.
The article referred to a Stephen King who was claimed to have traumatised dogs he had been asked to help and about whom the RSPCA had received complaints about him. That person, however, was Stephen Barry King, said Skrein. He said Dog World had agreed to pay compensation to King and to set the record straight.
For Dog World, counsel Ben Mawson said: “Dog World accepts that Stephen Geoffrey King did not and would not abuse animals in the way described in the article.”
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