This hearing considered a penalty for contempt of court hearing in the ongoing proceedings of Oliver v Shaikh [2020] EWHC 2658 (QB).
The court considered the Defendant’s culpability for the breaches of the Order of 10 December 2019 not to write defamatory statements about the Claimant on websites, to be extremely high. The breaches began immediately with the Defendant simply refused to comply with the Order to remove the various websites and owing to the fact there have been 20 breaches of the order.
Held: only a period of immediate imprisonment is sufficient to reflect the culpability of the Defendant and the harm caused by his repeated breaches of the Court’s order. As the Defendant has not attended today, a warrant for his arrest will be issued. When he is apprehended, and subject to any application under CPR 81.10, he will be committed to prison for a period of 16 months.
Ben Silverstone was involved in this case.
Judgment is here.