UK defamation laws

[dongela]

My 5 month old daughter has yet to receive any monetary support from her father who abandoned me as soon as he found out about the pregnancy. In fact, he refused to even speak to me about it and threatened with having me arrested for 'harrassment' because I kept trying to get in touch with him.
She is now 5 months old and he is refusing to contribute financially.

I eventually contacted CSA, which will take months to sort out anyway, but they are working on the premise that he earns 135 pounds a week. He spends more than this on taxi's every week. He is self employed and works in the music industry. The CSA say that as he has no proof of income (everything is cash in hand) they will have to take his word for it.

So - in an attempt to at least embarrass him, I put up a basic webpage yesterday, stating his name, the name of his band and the venue's he is to be found at and also the fact that he does not pay a penny in child support for his daughter. He complained to the hosting site and I was asked to remove the 'defamatory comments' or they would delete the site. I just deleted it myself.

My question is - is this guy using the same tactic as John Terry? In that - he DOESN'T in fact, support his child - but I am not allowed to say it as it would damage his business interests?

I was not rude or abusive or anything on the webpage. I just stated that he has a five month old daughter whom he does not support. Does anyone know if I can get permission from somewhere to put the page back up? Or is this the state of the law in the UK? That he can lie about his earnings to get out of supporting his child, but I am not allowed to say it?

Thanks StewieGriffinsMom,

I know. The whole system is worse than a man short! He has been self employed for about 6 years but has told them he's only been self employed for a short time. I asked them if I asked for a review of his income next year, if he would be expected to submit his tax returns at this point and they said no - so he can just keep saying that he's only been self employed for a short time indefinitely!

I warned him that I would report him to the Inland Revenue for tax avoidance if he persisted in lying about his income so I called them thismorning and did just that. I hear they have bigger sticks than the CSA, so hopefully something beneficial for my daughter will come of it.

And I will use your point about recorded letters. When I called yesterday, the first guy I spoke to informed me in a huffy tone that they had cases dating back 7 years, as though I had no right to be asking about the progress of my case after only a month!

You don't HAVE to take the page down, nor can police get involved as defamation is a civil matter. However, he could sue you if you don't. He could also sue the ISP if they let it stay on after they received his complaint (hence their threat to delete it). And you could defend by saying it is true. You can write to the ISP and say you have a complete defence to any defamation claim so they should let you keep your page, but do you really want to go there?