Phil Flanagan speaking to Roisin Henderson RMG49
THE former Fermanagh South Tyrone Assembly member, Phil Flanagan – he lost the seat in the recent Stormont elections -says he cannot afford the £50,000 libel damages a court ordered him to pay UUP MP, Tom Elliott.
In May 2014, Mr Flanagan had posted a tweet suggesting that Mr Elliott had harassed and shot people while he was a member of the UDR.
The post was seen by 167 of Mr Flanagan’s followers before it was taken down. The allegation was aggravated by his failure to publish an apology until Mr Elliott took him to court, a High Court judge decided.
The judge, Mr Justice Stephens, stated during the hearing that, ‘to state that a senior politician, who had been the leader of a (UUP) party, was responsible for harassing and shooting people during his service with the UDR, is a most serious libel’.
He ordered Mr Flanagan to pay Mr Elliott £50,000.
However, speaking on BBC Radio Ulster on Thursday night last, 12th May, Mr Flanagan, who is now unemployed after losing his Assembly seat, insisted he cannot pay the £50,000.
And, he ruled out his asking Sinn Fein to pay it for him.
He told his interviewer: “If it’s only £50,000, that would be me asking Sinn Fein not to have two members of staff (so as) to cover me for something daft I said about Tom Elliott on Twitter.”
He said the amount was, ‘something that’s always in the back of my mind’, but he did not think he was overly worried about it.
“I don’t have the money to pay it, so I’m not going to lose too much sleep over it.”
Contacted subsequently by the ‘Belfast Telegraph’, Tom Elliott said it was a matter for his lawyers.
“Phil Flanagan showed total recklessness by not dealing with this matter properly. I will now be referring the matter to my solicitors.”
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