MP in libel win against Sun over Nazi image allegation

Delighted: Richard Burgon A MEMBER of the shadow cabinet has said he is “delighted” to have won £30,000 damages in a High Court libel action against The Sun over claims a heavy metal band he performed with used Nazi imagery.

Shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon sued the newspaper over an April 2017 online article which said he had joined a Leeds band that “delights in Nazi symbols”.

The Labour MP for Leeds East said an image tweeted by the band Dream Troll, which appears to use the “S” from the logo of the notorious Nazi paramilitary organisation the SS, was a “spoof ” of Black Sabbath’s 1975 album “We Sold Our Soul for Rock ‘n’ Roll”.

But The Sun’s publisher, News Group Newspapers, and its political editor Tom Newton Dunn argued that the image was “strongly reminiscent of Nazi iconography” and Mr Burgon “demonstrated terrible misjudgment and exposed himself to ridicule”.

Giving judgment at the High Court in London yesterday, Mr Justice Dingemans ruled in Mr Burgon’s favour on his claim for libel, awarding him damages and an injunction to prevent further publication of the article.

But the judge dismissed Mr Burgon’s claim for malicious falsehood, finding that “Mr Newton Dunn was acting honestly when he wrote the story”.

Following the ruling, Mr Burgon tweeted: “Delighted to have won my High Court case against The Sun.”

In a statement, a spokesman for The Sun said it would be appealing against the ruling.