Louis Walsh settles defamation case

X FACTOR judge Louis Walsh has settled a 500,000 euro defamation action against News Group Newspapers in Ireland.

The out-of-court deal was reached after the music mogul sued The Sun over a story last year based on a false allegation that he sexually assaulted a man in a Dublin night-spot.

In a statement read to the High Court in Dublin, Eoin McCullough, senior counsel for News Group Newspapers, said:

“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.

“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.”

Louis Walsh said that he was relieved. “This has had a terrible effect on me guys. It was all lies.”

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.