Web troll’s tweet about lawyer costs him £100,000

AN INTERNET troll who posted groundless abuse about a US lawyer was yesterday hit with a record £100,000 libel bill.

Jason Page, 28, had branded a Colorado lawyer a ‘scumbag’ who loses most of his cases and accused him of paying for online reviews.

But the victim, Timothy Bussey, went to California to subpoena Google’s records and find out who was behind the slur.

It turned out to be Mr Page, below, a web designer known as Jay, who lives with his parents in Shropshire.

Yest erday he faced a crippling payout after a senior judge at the High Court in London backed a libel claim against him.

The anonymous review was posted on the Google profile of Mr Bussey’s firm, stating: ‘Scumbag Tim Bussey, pays for false reviews, loses 80 per cent of his cases. Not a happy camper.’

Appearing to be a genuine comment from a dissatisfied client, it remained live for about a year, causing serious damage to his reputation, the court was told.

Mr Page, who represented himself, insisted he was not responsible and that his Google account must have been hacked. However, judge Sir David Eady described his explanation as ‘extremely improbable’.