Footballer Keith Gillespie has accepted a formal apology and “substantial damages” in
the High Court from the News of the World after it printed rape
allegations against him and two of his Leicester City colleagues.
Northern
Ireland international Gillespie sued after a front-page article
headlined: “Rape Girls: Our Hell – soccer attack victims tell their
story”, published in March last year.
Gillespie’s advocate David
Price told Mr Justice Eady the article followed Leicester City’s
training and teambuilding trip to La Manga in Spain in February and
March 2004. After an evening out in the resort, three women made
allegations of rape against some of the team, including Gillespie, who
was charged and, at the time, refused bail.
Price said: “The News
of the World article detailed the claims made by three women who
accused three Leicester City players, including Keith Gillespie, of
taking part in a violent and vicious sexual assault on them, including
the rape of one of them and the attempted rape of another. The women
also alleged that one of the players threatened violent recriminations
if any of them spoke about their ordeal. The claims of these women
reported in the News of the World are entirely untrue.”
Gillespie was released on bail and the criminal proceedings against him were dropped on 20 May 2004.
●
Crystal Palace and England striker Andy Johnson has accepted an apology
and damages from Express Newspapers after he complained that an article
inthe Daily Star suggested he took cocaine.
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