Firm relents over riot

A Lancashire law firm has apologised in a statement in open court and paid out libel damages after it told a newspaper that a race equality campaigner who acted as a 'peacemaker' in the 2001 Burnley race riots had thrown bricks at a policeman.

Shahid Malik issued proceedings after a statement by Stephen Smith, a local organiser in the British National Party (BNP), found its way into the local press via Waddington & Sons and partner Dylan Bradshaw, who represented Mr Smith in criminal proceedings.

It suggested that Mr Malik - a former Commission for Racial Equality commissioner and a Labour Party national executive committee member - should have been prosecuted for throwing bricks at a police officer.

Mr Malik's solicitor Tamsin Allen, an assistant at London firm Bindman & Partners, told the court the allegations were completely untrue and had left her client considerably distressed.

'He was in fact acting as a mediator and peacemaker in a volatile situation following disturbances in Burnley,' she said.

As Mr Bradshaw and his firm had made a full apology and agreed to pay damages and costs, she said Mr Malik was happy to let the matter rest.

The firm told the court it offered Mr Malik its sincere apologies for the distress caused, adding that it had not intended that any statement should be published.

It also disassociated itself from the views expressed by the BNP and the comments made in the statement.

Iain Fraser of Manchester firm James Chapman & Co acted for Mr Bradshaw and Waddington & Sons.

Paula Rohan