UK: ex-politician wrongly accused as pedo will sue tweeters who linked him to sex abuse

Former Conservative Party treasurer Lord McAlpine was accused of pedophilia in a now-famous Newsnight broadcast that led to the ouster of the head of the BBC. McAlpine now says he plans to sue Sally Bercow, the wife of the Speaker of the Commons, and George Monbiot, a columnist for the Guardian, for tweeting his name after the television program was was broadcast. Snip:

Lord McAlpine's solicitor, Andrew Reid, said the "nasty" tweets would "cost people a lot of money", warning the guilty parties: "We know who you are."

He added: "Twitter is not just a closed coffee shop among friends. It goes out to hundreds of thousands of people and you must take responsibility for it.

"It is not a place where you can gossip and say things with impunity, and we are about to demonstrate that."

Read more: Lord McAlpine to sue tweeters who linked him to sex abuse as BBC pays £185,000 damages. (Telegraph)