A solicitor and his firm have apologised to Shahid Malik, a commissioner for the Commission for Racial Equality, over a story published in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph suggesting he should have been prosecuted for throwing bricks at a policeman.
They have also agreed to pay damages for the libel.
Mr Justice Gray was told at London’s High Court that the allegation that Malik, also a member of the Labour Party national executive committee, had thrown bricks at police was “totally untrue”.
But the statement found its way into the press via Waddington and Sons Solicitors and one of the firm’s partners, Dylan Bradshaw.
Tamsin Allen, for the solicitors, told the judge they represented a man called Steven Smith and the statement made by him was issued via the firm.
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