Former Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams awarded £84,000 damages after winning libel action against BBC
30 May 2025, 13:02 | Updated: 30 May 2025, 13:06
The former Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams has won a libel action against the BBC.
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The ex-leader said he was defamed by a BBC Spotlight programme - and an accompanying online story - which claimed he sanctioned the killing of a former Sinn Fein official Denis Donaldson.
Mr Donaldson was shot dead in Co Donegal in 2006, months after admitting his role as a police and MI5 agent over 20 years.
Mr Adams denies any involvement and has now been awarded £84,000 in damages (€100,000).
'Very pleased'
Solicitor Paul Tweed said his client Gerry Adams is "very pleased with this resounding verdict", adding the award of damages "speaks for itself".
"The jury, 12 people from different walks of life, having listened to extensive evidence during the course of the past four weeks, has come to the unequivocal conclusion that the subject allegation was highly defamatory," he said outside court.
"It therefore follows that the BBC Spotlight team at the time should not have included it in their broadcast. Not only had the false allegation regarding our client been the focus of the Spotlight documentary, but it had been utilised to sensationalise and publicise their programme.
"Furthermore, the fact that the false allegation has been left online for almost nine years has, in my opinion, done much to undermine the high standards of accuracy that is expected of the BBC.
"This case could and should have been resolved some considerable time ago."
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In the programme broadcast in September 2016, an anonymous source given the pseudonym Martin claimed the shooting was sanctioned by the political and military leadership of the IRA and that Mr Adams gave "the final say".
In 2009, dissident republican group the Real IRA claimed the killing and a Garda investigation is ongoing.
Mr Adams claims he was subject to a "grievous smear", while the BBC has described the legal action as a "cynical attempt to launder his reputation".
