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| Sussex university tutor Luke Cooper in protest payout | Sussex university tutor Luke Cooper in protest payout |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| A University of Sussex tutor has won libel damages over newspaper stories linking him to violence during an anti-education cuts protest in London. | A University of Sussex tutor has won libel damages over newspaper stories linking him to violence during an anti-education cuts protest in London. |
| Luke Cooper, 27, was awarded £60,000 by the High Court after he said his reputation had been "badly trashed". | Luke Cooper, 27, was awarded £60,000 by the High Court after he said his reputation had been "badly trashed". |
| During the student march in November 2010, protesters broke into Millbank Tower causing damage and engaging in a four-hour standoff with police. | During the student march in November 2010, protesters broke into Millbank Tower causing damage and engaging in a four-hour standoff with police. |
| Evening Standard Ltd and Associated Newspapers both denied libel. | Evening Standard Ltd and Associated Newspapers both denied libel. |
| Mr Cooper, who is completing a PhD in international relations at the University of Sussex, told a High Court jury and Mr Justice Eady that his reputation was "as badly trashed" as the Millbank Tower, which is the Conservative Party's headquarters. | |
| 'Hard core' | |
| After a five-day trial, the assistant tutor was awarded £35,000 over a front page Evening Standard article, which appeared the day after the demonstration, and £25,000 in relation to a follow-up in the Daily Mail. | |
| Mr Cooper, a member of socialist youth organisation Revolution, said the first story suggested he was a ringleader who planned with others to hijack a peaceful march. | |
| He said the second article portrayed him as one of the "hard core" who organised the riot. | |
| He told the court that an accompanying "out-of-context" picture, taken from a photo sharing website and showing him in a pub a couple of years earlier, was chosen to give the impression of a man grinning at the havoc wreaked. | |
| Evening Standard Ltd and Associated Newspapers, who were ordered to pay the damages within 14 days plus £450,000 towards costs within 28 days, had denied libel and said their allegations were substantially true. |