MORE: Elish Angelione IS Behind Media Harassment!

Did Scot Gov finance Lord Advocate Angiolini libel action against media?

Media / UK

The Crown Office has declined to answer a Freedom of Information request made by The Drum about who paid the bills for its boss, Scotland's Lord Advocate, Elish Angiolini, in legal action she took against the media.

The information is exempted from disclosure, says the Crown Office, "on the basis that it would be likely to prejudice substantially the prevention and detection of crime."

Angiolini had threatened to sue The Drum's sister title, legal magazine The Firm, for libel, and the Crown Office issued a statement to all Scottish news desks that a report in The Firm was potentially defamatory. As well as who paid Angiolini's costs, The Drum also asked how much the bill was.

The contentious article in The Firm reported criticism of the fact that nobody had been prosecuted over a case in which £13,500 was awarded by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board to Hollie Greig, a Down Syndrome child said to be the victim of a paedophile ring in Aberdeen.

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