Ranger ordered to curtail libel claims

A FORMER member of the elite Irish Army Ranger wing who is suing the Sunday World for defamation of character has been told by the High Court he must curtail the scope of his claim for damages.

Sunday Newspapers Ltd succeeded yesterday in a bid to force Seamus Griffin to whittle down his claim on the basis that certain imputations he ascribes to an article were not reasonably capable of bearing the defamatory meaning that he contends.

High Court President, Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, said the June 2010 article by the paper’s Investigations Editor, Nicola Tallant, had stated that a major military investigation was under way into allegations that elite rangers had taken leave of absence to give weapons training in the Seychelles to a squad of armed police nicknamed “The Assassins”.