£10,000 in damages for Facebook libel

A Staffordshire law student who lived in fear of vigilante attack after being falsely branded a paedophile on the internet has landed a £10,000 damages payout from the High Court.

Chef Jeremiah Barber, aged 24, uploaded child pornography to the Facebook page of Stone student Raymond Bryce with the comment: "Ray, you like kids and you are gay so I bet you love this picture."

Barber had rowed with Mr Bryce, of Fillybrooks Close, after failing to pay back an £80 loan. He removed the image, added in November 2008, within 24 hours.

But he later pleaded guilty to making and distributing an indecent image of a child at Stafford Crown Court and was ordered to pay £1,200 costs and carry out 150 hours unpaid work.

Now Mr Justice Tugendhat, sitting at London's High Court, has awarded Mr Bryce £10,000 in libel damages for the anxiety he suffered as his family feared an attack.

Mr Bryce, 24, who lives with his parents, suffers from Asperger's Syndrome but has secured a place on a full-time law degree course at Staffordshire University.

Giving evidence, Mr Bryce said: "When I viewed the pictures I was shocked because they were repulsive and disgusting and in no way reflected my attitude to life.

"I asked for an apology which I have not to this date received. The whole thing has been distressing."

Diana Bryce, Mr Bryce's mother, told the court her family lived in fear. "When Raymond told me what happened I was really upset. He couldn't go into town because you didn't know who had been looking at Facebook."

Mr Justice Tugendhat said: "This was not only defamatory, but a defamation which goes to a central aspect of Mr Bryce's private life, as well as his public reputation."

Barber, of Creswell Grove, Stafford, who did not appear and was not represented at the hearing, has also been handed an injunction banning him from repeating the libel.

He said he did not even know about his £10,000 damages bill until told by the Express & Star last night.