Jeremy Corbyn legal action leaves ex Tory councillor 'penniless' before Christmas

A former Conservative councillor who had to pay damages to former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn says he has been left “penniless” weeks before Christmas.

Councillor Paul Nickerson was forced to pay an undisclosed sum after reaching an out of court settlement, after the father of three shared a doctored image of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn holding a wreath.

A GoFundMe crowdfunding page appealed for donations to over legal fees but Hull Live reports the page received only £30 in donations before it was removed by Cllr Nickerson.

The local Labour Party branch had been calling for his resignation, but Liberal Democrat Cllr David Nolan has said the damaged and apology should be the end of the matter.

Mr Nickerson said he didn’t want to complain further after the ‘sharp shock’ of the situation, saying he wanted to make things right through a series of charity events in the council ward that he represents.

He wrote: “On 15 November 2021, a false defamatory statement, for which I accept full responsibility, was published on my Twitter account about Jeremy Corbyn MP.

“My apology is attached. I have agreed to pay substantial damages and legal costs to Mr Corbyn. Please retweet.”

Mr Nickerson said in his apology: “The tweet targeted Jeremy Corbyn and included a fake photograph of him laying a poppy wreath at the site of a burning taxi outside the Liverpool Women’s Hospital, where a terror attack had taken place on Remembrance Sunday, killing a suicide bomber and injuring others.

“The false photograph, captioned by the word ‘unsurprisingly’, gave the completely untrue impression that Jeremy Corbyn supports terrorist violence, including suicide bombings, which, without any hesitation, I wholly accept he does not.

“Without reservation, I fully withdraw any suggestion or inference that Jeremy Corbyn is a supporter of terrorist violence. The tweet was wrong and I retract it.

“I unreservedly and sincerely apologise to Mr Corbyn for the hurt and distress that has been caused to him by the tweet.

“I entirely accept that the posting of the message the day after Remembrance Sunday aggravated the hurtful nature of the defamatory tweet.”

Mr Corbyn instructed his solicitor to bring legal proceedings for libel following the publication of the original tweet.