Anti-cuts protestor wins £60,000 in libel claim against Mail and Standard

Luke Cooper successfully challenges articles that portrayed him as the 'ringleader' of riots violence.

By Caroline Crampton Published 22 June 2012

Debris scattered in front of Millbank Tower, home of Conservative Party headquarters. Photograph: Getty Images

A university tutor has won £60,000 in libel damages from the Daily Mail and the Evening Standard after successfully challenging articles that linked him to violence during anti-cuts demonstrations in 2010.

Luke Cooper, who is a PhD student and assistant tutor in international relations at Sussex University, was awarded £35,000 from the Evening Standard and £25,000 from the Daily Mail.after they published articles alleging he was a ringleader of the violence that occurred during the anti-cuts protests at Millbank in 2010. Although he took part in the protest, he consistently denied having any role in the attacks on Conservative Party HQ.

Cooper's libel claim was the first to be heard by a jury at the High Court for three years and is expected to be one of the last, with a bill on libel reform included in the Queen's Speech earlier this year.

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3 comments

Sat, 2012-06-30 16:27 — Mr Humanus Wright (not verified)

Quote of the Day - Regarding Gareth Williams, “The world was ours for the taking.”. There's a rumour going around that Gareth may of had some sort of a last covert mission with 'Dolly the Sheep', prior to his demise, but it hasn't been fully substantiated! Apparently Alex Chapman didn't know about this covert relationship, but he may have Saw(ers) alot! Ronan Summers definitely didn't have anything to do with it, even though he loves to drink Tenets! We all love Wiltshire (Porton Down) more than Gloucestershire (GCHQ), even more so then Worcestershire (RSRE). Military Radiations Signals Intelligence always use to do 'his head in', especially when using ELF or VLF frequencies, impacting directly on the 'Neural Oscillations' of the Central Nervous System. But taking a 'Nano-Medicine' Paracetamol takes the head to a new level of game play, I'll assure you of that! Nothing to do with BCI, RNM, Synthetic Telepathy ... that would REALLY BE MAD!!! An odd thought shared ... the illegal "watching over" in our individual 'castles' of this beloved Britannia, while entertaining Babar Pappa.