UK Court: Lawmaker’s Wife’s Tweet Was Libelous

LONDON (AP) – Britain’s High Court has ruled that a tweet posted by the wife of the speaker of Parliament about a politician wrongly linked to child sex abuse was libelous.

A BBC report last year led to widespread Internet chatter that falsely linked politician Alistair McAlpine to decades-old child sex abuse. The broadcaster did not name McAlpine but has paid him damages.

Sally Bercow, wife of Britain’s Parliament Speaker John Bercow, said she has settled a libel case brought by McAlpine after the High Court decided that her 2012 tweet naming the politician to her then-56,000 followers was defamatory.

Bercow said following the High Court ruling Friday that she had accepted a previous settlement offer made by McAlpine’s lawyers. She did not disclose the sums involved.