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March 23, 2007updated 17 May 2007 11:30am

Daily Mail faces cop’s claim for libel damages

By Press Gazette

A police officer has launched a legal battle for libel damages over a story in the Daily Mail.

Gurpal Virdi, a detective sergeant with the Metropolitan Police, is suing Associated Newspapers over a story headed “Sikh police officer who won hate mail payout sues again”.

He claims the story which appeared on April 22 last year was defamatory, and he is also seeking an injunction banning the paper from repeating the allegations at the centre of his claim.

The words meant that an independent inquiry had concluded that he was guilty, or probably guilty of conducting a racist hate mail campaign against his police colleagues, and that there were strong grounds to suspect he was indeed the culprit, he claims.

The story also meant that his conduct in bringing discrimination proceedings against his employers on the basis that he was not guilty was dishonest, grasping and disgraceful, according to a writ issued in London’s High Court.

Virdi says the article gravely damaged his personal and professional reputation, and caused him humiliation, embarrassment and distress.

He is also seeking aggravated damages, and says the paper failed to consult him before publishing the story.

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The writ was issued by Russell Jones and Walker, ref Jeremy Clarke-Williams.

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