FORMER Rangers chairman Sandy Easdale has been awarded £100,000 in damages from a political activist over comments made about him on social media.
He brought the action against Greenock-based blogger John Houston after multiple defamatory and false claims were made by him against Mr Easdale and his business interests.
In a series of videos and blogs published on multiple websites during late-2016, Mr Houston alleged that businesses owned by Mr Easdale were involved in criminal business practices.
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Now, following a hearing at the Court of Session, which was uncontested by Mr Houston, he was ordered to pay £100,000 in damages to Mr Easdale as well as another £100,000 in damages to Clyde Metal Recycling Ltd.
Mr Houston was also told he was liable for legal costs arising from the case. Sandy Easdale said that the court action gives a clear indication that he is no longer willing to have his reputation – or that of his businesses – tarnished by despicable lies published online.
Mr Easdale said: “Whilst it is regrettable that such an action had to be taken, I was left with no other option despite repeated requests to Mr Houston to stop making defamatory claims against me and my companies.
“For too long we have had to put up with nonsense written as fact on blogs and social media platforms – and this was one step too far. I am clear, as are others within our various businesses, that we will not hesitate to publicly defend our reputations where it is necessary to do so.”
READ MORE: 'Sectarianism will become history when denial and avoidance is ditched'
The trouble started when Mr Houston made defamatory comments about Mr Easdale on a Facebook discussion forum and refused to take them down.
The social media giants removed the posts after Mr Easdale contacted them directly – only for the same posts to reappear on the site.
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