MP Burgon wins ‘Nazi’ libel case

RICHARD BURGON, Labour’s shadow justice secretary, has won £30,000 in a libel action against the Sun over claims his band adopted Nazi imagery.

The case centred on an April 2017 article headlined “Reich and Roll: Labour’s justice boss ridiculed after he joins a heavy metal band that delights in Nazi symbols”.

The Sun claimed the typeface for the letter “S” on the album’s cover was taken from the Nazi’s SS paramilitary organisation.

On Wednesday, Mr Justice Dingeman ruled instead that the image was “produced as a form of tribute to or imitation” of the cover of the Black Sabbath album We Sold Our Soul for Rock ‘N’ Roll.

He added: “The two ‘S’s in the Dream Tröll image are not ‘Nazi symbols’. I make this finding because the two ‘S’s are not positioned together and… the angles of the ‘S’s are different.”

The Labour MP said he was “delighted” at the news and would use the money to fund justice internship for a young person from Leeds, the city he represents as an MP.

The Sun said it was “disappointed” by the ruling, saying it would appeal.

During the hearing, the newspaper attempted to draw a link between the alleged use of Nazi imagery and Labour’s ongoing antisemitism crisis.