Laurence Fox Ordered To Pay £180,000 In Damages Over ‘Paedophile’ Defamation

Laurence Fox arriving at the Royal Courts Of Justice, central London, for his libel trial. Mr Fox is being sued by former Stonewall trustee Simon Blake and drag artist Crystal, also known as Colin Seymour. Fox is countersuing the pair along with actress Nicola Thorp. Picture date: Wednesday November 22, 2023. (Press Association via AP Images)

Laurence Fox has been ordered to pay out £180,000 in libel damages to two individuals “paedophiles” on social media.

In January Fox lost his libel case over defamatory comments made during a Twitter spat involving supermarket Sainsbury’s support for Black History Month in 2020.

The ruling comes after Fox lost his libel case after getting into a Twitter row over supermarket Sainsbury’s celebration of Black History Month. Fox, founder of the Reclaim Party and ex-GB News host, was then sued by Simon Blake, former trustee at LGBTQ+ rights charity Stonewall, and ex-Drag Race UK star Crystal, also known as Colin Seymour. The judge dismissed Fox’s counter-claims of defamation.

Delivering her judgement on Thursday, Mrs Justice Collins Rice condemned Fox’s libel as “gross, groundless and indefensible,” leading to severe distress for Blake and Seymour.

The judge said: “[Blake and Seymour] are entitled by law to an award of money, to compensate them for those damaging effects, and to ensure that they can put this matter behind them, vindicated and confident that no-one can sensibly doubt their blamelessness of that disgusting slur and that they were seriously wronged by it.”

The court then mandated Fox to pay £90,000 to each.