Yorkshire councillor to pay Jeremy Corbyn ‘substantial damages’ over Liverpool bomb tweet

A Yorkshire councillor has agreed to pay Jeremy Corbyn “substantial damages” after he photoshopped an image of the former Labour leader holding a poppy wreath at the scene of the Liverpool bomb attack and posted it onto Twitter.

Paul Nickerson had initially claimed the tweet sent from his account on the 15th November was the result of being hacked but has now admitted to sending the tweet.

The photoshopped post showed Mr Corbyn laying a poppy wreath at the site of the burning taxi outside the Liverpool Women’s Hospital, following a botched terror attack on Remembrance Sunday.

Cllr Nickerson said in a Facebook statement: “In recently sharing a defamatory image of Jeremy Corbyn on my Twitter account I have demonstrated a terrible lack of judgement.

“In trying to explain it away that my account was hacked I made a knee-jerk reaction which further let people down and only made the problem worse.”

In a statement posted earlier this afternoon, Jeremy Corbyn welcomed the swift settlement of the case.

The MP for Islington North said:

“Councillor Paul Nickerson’s photoshopped Twitter post about me failed to understand the seriousness of the threat and did a disservice to all those affected by the attack and their loved ones.

“This substantial settlement will be used to support charities that are close to my heart: including one in Liverpool and one in my constituency.”