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  1. Media Law
November 11, 2011

Sun pays damages to musician over ‘paedo ring’ story

By PA Media Lawyer

A retired musician felt that his life was put in danger after he was wrongly alleged to be a paedophile by The Sun, a High Court judge was told today.

George Gibbs, who lives in Liverpool, suffered “very significant distress, humiliation and anxiety” after a photograph of him, captioned with his surname, appeared in an article in The Sun in March this year, counsel Godwin Busuttil told Mr Justice Tugendhat.

The story – which was headlined: “Smashed: World’s biggest paedo ring” – concerned the successful results of Operation Rescue, an international investigation involving British police which was targeting paedophiles in the UK and abroad.

A similar version also appeared on the newspaper’s website, Busuttil said.

Both versions alleged that Gibbs had been deported from Thailand because of his involvement in child sex offences as a result of the investigation.

But the allegation was false and its publication in the most widely read national newspaper in the country was a “grave slur” on Gibbs’s reputation and integrity, Busuttil said.

“Understandably, given the emotive nature of the allegation, the claimant felt that his life had been put in danger.”

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He added that News Group Newspapers, which now accepted that the allegation was untrue and that it was wrong to publish it, had agreed to publish a correction and pay Mr Gibbs “substantial” damages over the libel.

The newspaper’s solicitor, Harriet Brown, offered its apologies for the distress and anxiety caused.

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