JK Rowling has decided not to pursue legal action for now after Glasgow MP Natalie McGarry accused the Harry Potter author of supporting a “misogynist Twitter troll”.

The author's agent has written to Ms McGarry seeking an apology and a charitable donation.

The writer repeatedly challenged the MP to explain how she has "defended misogyny and abuse" and demanded an apology in a social media row  on Thursday that lasted six hours.

Ms McGarry later apologised for "any misguided inference" that Ms Rowling supported misogyny or abuse.

The Herald:

But she subsequently retweeted an image that had been altered to wrongly suggest Ms Rowling had responded "you're a good man" to an offensive tweet sent by a Tweeter operating anonymously.

The "good man" tweet was actually in response to the same Tweeter in response to him saying he had helped to raise money for Ms Rowling's children's charity Lumos.

The offensive tweet from the anonymous Tweeter said: "Imagine a p***k. Then multiply said p***k by the power of c**t, smear it in diarrhea and decorate with Eck's pu**s."

The author accused Ms McGarry of producing “false evidence” made up of a cut and paste picture of a number of social media interactions to justify the allegation.

aThe Herald:

In the heated Twitter row told Ms McGarry: "Is it your view that if person A interacts with person B on Twitter, they must be 'supportive' of B's every tweet?."

At the end of the Twitter row, Ms Rowling indicated she was considering legal action against the Glasgow East MP, tweeting: "You don't appear to understand how Twitter or defamation works. I'm going to help you out with the latter."

She also said that damages would go to the Lumos.

Now it has been made clear that the Harry Potter author will not be pursuing Ms McGarry through the courts.

The Herald:

A spokesman for the author said: "At present J.K. Rowling is not taking legal action against Natalie McGarry.  Instead, her agent has written to Ms McGarry spelling out the consequences of defamation on Twitter, and requesting an apology and a donation to J.K. Rowling’s children’s charity, Lumos."

Ms McGarry's online accusations came about after she discovered Ms Rowling conversing with the anonymous tweeter who the MP claimed was a troll.

During the online row, another tweeter Alan Ferrier from Edinburgh had tweeted a picture made up of screen grabs of the offensive tweet with two complimentary tweets relating to different interactions from Ms Rowling tacked on.

Mr Ferrier later tweeted an apology and said he had made a donation of his own to Lumos and to the pro-independence campaign group Women For Independence.

The Herald: JK Rowling at launch of Lumos in USJK Rowling at launch of Lumos in US

Ms McGarry resigned the SNP party whip last November after police named her as part of their investigation into allegations that £30,000 of donations had gone missing from WFI. Ms McGarry, who co-founded WFI in 2012, denied any wrongdoing.

In the early hours of Friday morning, six hours after the row began, Ms McGarry's Twitter feed became hidden from public view with only confirmed followers having access. It remains restricted.

Mr Ferrier tweeted that ..."it's clear that my tweet was misleading, crudely presented and ill-advised".