News

Katie Hopkins could face ruin after losing court case

Outrageous star finally gets her just desserts

Quick, run to your window, throw it open and listen.

Can you hear it?

No? well, listen closely and you will probably hear the chorus of people all around the nation chanting, “Serves her right!”.

The her in question is Katie Hopkins who has, some might say, got her just desserts after losing a libel case.

She now faces a massive court bill of more than £120,000, which, it’s been reported, could ruin her.

READ MORE: Saturday Kitchen viewers ask if guest Martine McCutcheon is ‘drunk’

Jack Monroe, a writer and campaigner for poverty issues, won £24,000 damages in a High Court libel action against the mouthy controversial columnist and radio host, after she accused her on Twitter of defacing a memorial for women who were involved with the second world war.

Hopkins posted: “@MsJackMonroe scrawled on any memorials recently? Vandalised the memory of those who fought for your freedom. Grandma got any more medals?”

A second tweet from Hopkins suggested that she “approved or condoned the criminal vandalisation of the women’s war memorial in Whitehall during an anti-government protest”.

Hopkins later deleted the first tweet but failed to apologise to Jack about the upset she had caused her.

Monroe’s lawyer William Bennett told Mr Justice Warby: “The claimant’s primary case is that by reason of the seriousness of the allegations and the scale of publication, serious harm to reputation has been caused.

“A widely published allegation that someone has either vandalised a war memorial or approved of such an act will inevitably cause serious damage to reputation.”

Mr Bennett said “the libel was a particular affront to [Jack] because part of her identity is as a member of a family closely involved with the armed forces”.

Meanwhile, Hopkins’ team hit back saying that “this relatively trivial dispute arose and was resolved on Twitter in a period of several hours” and argued that there was “no lasting harm, and certainly no serious harm”, to Jack’s reputation.

In the end the judge sided with Monroe and awarded her £24,000 in damages and Hopkins was ordered to pay around £120, 000 in court bills.

READ MORE: Footballers’ Wives star dies after ‘freak accident’

A jubilant Monroe said afterwards: “These proceedings have been a nightmare. It has been an 18-month, unproductive, devastating nightmare.

“I did not want to be here today. I have offered several times though my lawyer to settle these proceedings outside court.

“This is the last thing that I wanted to be doing.”

She later Tweeted: “It’s taken 21 months but today the High Court ruled that Hopkins statements to/about me were defamatory. I sued her for libel. and I won.

“I’ll be writing a longer statement shortly, but for now, to everyone who told me I couldn’t, wouldn’t, shouldn’t – I could, I would, I did.

“And now that I can actually breathe, first I am going to hammer my book over the finishing line for those who backed it, and me. Thankyou.”


Christian Guiltenane
Freelance Writer

Related Topics