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.

The paper, its editor, and the reporter, denied the claim and said the words in the stories were true.

The first article was on April 10, 2011 headlined ‘Kops and Robbers’, while the second was published two weeks later in response to a letter from Mr Speedie’s solicitor. The second was headlined ‘Speedy the Snake’ with a photograph of Mr Speedie handling a large snake.

Mr Speedie claimed the stories falsely meant he was engaged in criminal activity, was involved in smuggling or transportation of drugs, and had links to gangland crime.

The jury was asked eight questions.

In reply to whether the first article meant Mr Speedie engaged in criminal activity, it said “no”.

It replied “yes” to whether the first article meant gardaí had reason to suspect he was involved in criminal activity.

On the basis of this yes answer, the jury awarded €85,000 and recommended an apology be printed.

The jury also found the first article meant Mr Speedie associated with known criminals and the second article meant he was treacherous like a snake.

The second article did not mean he had links to the activities of the criminal Freddie Thompson, it also found.