Ex-footballer awarded €85k damages

A High Court jury has awarded €85,000 in damages to former Premiership footballer David Speedie over a newspaper article which they found defamed him by saying gardaí had reason to suspect him of being involved in criminal activity.

After two days of deliberation, the jury yesterday found an article published in the Sunday World in April 2011 had defamed him.

Mr Speedie, who played for Liverpool and Chelsea, claimed Sunday Newspapers Ltd, publishers of the paper, defamed him by linking him to criminal figures in two articles.