The Mail on Sunday has agreed to pay £180,000 in damages to a former minicab licensing officer after the newspaper falsely accused him of acting as a “fixer” for paedophile taxi drivers in Rochdale. He said the legal victory followed a three-year battle and the newspaper had chosen to pick on him because of his race. The Mail on Sunday story claimed Iqbal, who is British-Pakistani, cleared taxi drivers of the same background to work in Rochdale at a time when they were sexually abusing children. Potential employers would offer him agency work, Google his name and withdraw the offer when they saw the coverage. He said he had already being having issues in his marriage and this story was the “nail in the coffin”.

Source: The Guardian January 30, 2020 18:24 UTC