The owners of the News of the World have been forced to apologise to footballer Artur Boruc and pay him £70,000 in damages after the paper alleged that he had been unfaithful to his pregnant girlfriend.
The story, published in the Scottish edition of the News of the World in July 2010, alleged that former Celtic goalkeeper Boruc had been cheating on his partner, who was pregnant at the time.
The Court of Session in Edinburgh heard that the paper had been taken in by a fake expose of Boruc’s personal life which had been provided by Kevin O’Donnell of Glasgow, according to the newspapers lawyers. O’Donnell allegedly went to great lengths to fabricate the story, and was only caught when Boruc’s phone records failed to match up to O’Donnell’s story.
Whilst News of the World bosses made efforts to appease Boruc once they realised what had happened, the footballer, who now plays for Italian side Fiorentina, nonetheless filed a defamation lawsuit.
News International, which owns the News of the World and will presumably have professional insurance in place to cover such cases, has now been ordered to pay Boruc £70,000 in damages.