Daily Star fails to stop Niall Horan libel case

One Direction’s Niall Horan has won a round in his libel case over articles which he says meant he used hard drugs during an evening with fellow singers Justin Bieber and Cody Simpson.

The Mullingar star has sued Express Newspapers over articles which appeared in the Daily Star in July. He claims they were defamatory because they meant that during an evening spent with Bieber and Simpson he had used hard drugs — crystal meth or crack.

The newspaper says the articles do not bear the meaning alleged or any meaning defamatory of Horan. It asked Mr Justice Dingemans at London’s High Court to stop the action in its tracks.