Comedian Alan Davies may be forced to pay up to £200,000 after posting tweets that falsely linked Lord McAlpine to child sex abuse. The former Conservative Party treasurer's lawyers are reportedly seeking a settlement that could result in a six-figure charitable donation.
The payout would be the largest so far in the McAlpine scandal, triggered by a BBC Newsnight broadcast on 2 November 2012 about paedophiles targeting children at a care home in Wrexham. Lord McAlpine was wrongly implicated in the programme, leading to his name being widely circulated on the internet, including Twitter.
Davies tweeted: 'Any clues as to who this Tory paedophile is...?' and then retweeted a response naming McAlpine to his 400,000 followers. The peer was completely innocent of the allegations.
Other high-profile Twitter users who wrongly named or inferred involvement by Lord McAlpine included Guardian columnist George Monbiot and Sally Bercow, wife of the Commons speaker. Monbiot agreed to carry out charity work valued at £25,000 as a settlement.
Lord McAlpine has already reached settlements with the BBC (£185,000) and ITV (£125,000) after a This Morning presenter accidentally flashed a list of alleged paedophiles on camera. He dropped legal action against Twitter users with fewer than 500 followers, asking instead for a £25 donation to Children In Need.
