Louis Walsh has won a €500,000 defamation action against Irish red-top The Sun.
The music mogul settled the half a million euro deal out of court after he sued the News Group Newspapers over a story in the newspaper last year based on a false allegation that he sexually assaulted a man in a Dublin night-spot.
Unemployed dance teacher Leonard Watters was jailed for six months in July for wrongly accusing Walsh of groping him in a celebrity nightclub after a Westlife concert in April 2011.
Watters shared his story with the Irish tabloid and they printed the story, defaming the Irish X Factor judge.
Eoin McCullough, senior counsel for News Group Newspapers, read a statement to the High Court in Dublin apologising to Walsh.
“The Sun published an article in its editions of 23 June, 2011, in which we reported that Louis Walsh was being investigated in relation to a sexual assault on Leonard Watters,” he said.
“In fact it transpired that Leonard Watters had made a false statement to An Garda Siochána, and he has since been convicted in relation to this matter.
“The Sun fully accepts that the alleged assault did not occur in the first place and Louis Walsh is entirely innocent of any such assault.
“The Sun unreservedly apologies to Louis Walsh for any distress caused to him as a result of our article.”
Walsh took legal action against the Rupert Murdoch group for damages over the article published with the sensationalist headline “Louis Probed Over ‘Sex Attack’ on Man in Loo”.
The paper accepted the accusation was false but initially denied defamation, saying that it had acted fairly as the story was based on police inquiries in to the allegation.
Outside court, the lovely Louis said he would not have wished what happened to him on his worst enemy.
“I’m very relieved,” he said.
“This has had a terrible effect on me, guys. It was all lies.
“And I’m very satisfied with this total vindication for me, but I remain very angry at the treatment I received at the hands of The Sun.
“I have the utmost respect and time for most journalists with whom I’ve always enjoyed a good relationship,” he said.
He added that while no amount of money would compensate him for what he had been through he was glad to have achieved a settlement.
