Footballer John Mousinho wins substantial damages from The Sun for “match-fixing” photo libel
The Sun has agreed to pay substantial damages to League 1 footballer John Mousinho after using his image to accompany a news story on the recent arrests of players in relation to alleged match-fixing.
The photograph of Mr Mousinho, who is currently on loan at Stevenage FC from Preston North End FC, was used to accompany a story headlined “Got a defence?” on April 5, 2013 – despite his never having been involved in or associated with match fixing.
The Sun accepted that the use of the photograph was wrong and that it had no defence, agreeing to settle the matter out of court.
The newspaper has also agreed to print an apology to the player, which will read:
“Our 5 April article “Got a defence?” named Graham Cummins as one of the footballers arrested over match fixing claims. However, we published a picture that was in fact of Stevenage footballer John Mousinho, who is on loan from Preston North End.
“The picture was supplied to us incorrectly captioned by an agency. Mr Mousinho has not been arrested nor has any involvement in alleged match fixing. We apologise to him for the embarrassment and distress caused.”
John Mousinho said:
“I am pleased that The Sun has now apologised for wrongly identifying me in its story about alleged match-fixing.
“It was important for me to set the record straight, and I feel that I have achieved that goal.”
A spokesperson for JMW Solicitors LLP, said:
“The Sun’s story wrongly associated John Mousinho with the Police’s match-fixing investigations – an association that threatened his professional and personal reputation.
“By securing this well-deserved apology, John has successfully cleared his name and can now put this unfortunate episode behind him”.
Ends
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Samantha Meakin
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