Councillor to pay "substantial damages" after Corbyn taxi bomb image

A councillor who published a faked image of Jeremy Corbyn laying a wreath at the scene of the explosion outside Liverpool Women's Hospital has agreed to pay substantial damages.

Conservative Councillor on East Riding Council, Paul Nickerson, tweeted the image the day after Emad Al-Swealmeen detonated a homemade device in the back of a taxi on Remembrance Sunday.

He had previously tweeted a personal apology but has now agreed to pay damages to Mr Corbyn.

In a statement posted on Twitter today Mr Nickerson said:

"On 15th November 2021 a defamatory tweet, for which I accept full responsibility, was published on my Twitter account.

"The tweet targeted Jeremy Corbyn and included a fake photograph of him laying a poppy wreath at the site of a burning taxi outside the Liverpool Women's Hospital where a terror attack had taken place on Remembrance Sunday killing a suicide bomber and injuring others.

"The false photograph, captioned by the world "unsurprisingly", gave the completely untrue impression that Jeremy Corbyn supports terrorist violence including suicide bombings, which without any hesitation I wholly accept he does not.

"Without reservation, I fully withdraw any suggestion or inference that Jeremy Corbyn is a supporter of terrorist is a supporter of terrorist violence.

"The tweet was wrong and I retract it.

"I unreservedly and sincerely apologise to Mr Corbyn for the hurt and distress that has been caused to him by the tweet.

"I entirely accept that the posting of the message the day after Remembrance Sunday aggravated the hurtful nature of the defamatory tweet.

"Accordingly, I have agreed to pay Mr Corbyn substantial damages, which he is donating to charity, and his legal costs."

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