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FOOD BLOGGER JACK Monroe has won her libel proceedings against columnist Katie Hopkins, and has been awarded £24,000 in damages by the high court in London.
Monroe had sued the controversial Hopkins after a series of tweets that she said caused “serious harm to her reputation”.
She had claimed that Hopkins had defamed her when the Daily Mail columnist took aim at the blogger after a memorial to women of the second world war in Whitehall, London, was vandalised during an anti-austerity demonstration in May 2015.
Hopkins directed a tweet to Monroe’s twitter account which said: “Scrawled on any memorials recently? Vandalised the memory of those who fought for your freedom. Grandma got any more medals?”
In response, Monroe tweeted: “I have NEVER ‘scrawled on a memorial’. Brother in the RAF. Dad was a para in the Falklands. You’re a piece of shit.”
The high court heard that Hopkins had mistaken a tweet from another anti-austerity activist, Laurie Penny, as being from Monroe, which prompted the “scrawled on any memorials” tweet, the Guardian reports.
Monroe later tweeted a message asking for an immediate apology from Hopkins and a £5,000 donation to a migrant rescue charity, or she would sue her.
In reply, Hopkins said: “Can someone explain to me – in 10 words or less – the different between irritant @PennyRed and social anthrax @MsJackMonroe.”
In court, Monroe said that she had received death threats following her interactions with Hopkins and that the “defamatory comments” had caused “serious harm” to her reputation.
Hopkins lawyers’ argued that the case was a “trivial dispute” on Twitter which was resolved within hours. They said that the events caused “no lasting harm, and certainly no serious harm” to Monroe’s reputation.
Following the award of £24k in damages, a statement from Monroe’s solicitor Mark Lewis said that, in this case, “the price of not saying sorry has been very high”.
Monroe rose to prominence when she began writing a blog which shared affordable recipes she had created while living as a young single mother. Since becoming more well-known, Monroe has also been outspoken on issues such as poverty and austerity.
Following the verdict, she posted its result on twitter before thanking those that had supported her.
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