Riley wins Twitter legal fight

Countdown presenter Rachel Riley has won the opening round of a legal battle after complaining about being defamed and harassed by the operator of an anonymous Twitter account.

A High Court judge has ordered barrister Daniel Bennett, who “admits responsibility” for the now dormant Harry Tuttle account, to disclose tweets which refer to the 34-year-old television presenter. Mr Justice Saini said Mr Bennett should also provide tweets to a blogger, David Collier, who has also complained of being defamed and harassed.

The judge said Mr Collier and Ms Riley were Jewish and took “active positions” against antisemitism. They claimed the Harry Tuttle account had been used “as a medium to attack a number of Jewish people, by harassing and defaming them”.

The judge made the orders yesterday.