The Irish News today won a landmark appeal which overturned the awarding of £25,000 to a Belfast restaurateur over a critical review.

In a judgment which has far reaching implications for critics the world over, the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal ruled that the jury which decided the restaurant had been defamed had been misdirected by the trial judge.

The Northern Ireland Lord Chief Justice, Sir Brian Kerr, sitting with two appeal court judges, delivered a unanimous reserved judgment.