A former councillor has made an unreserved apology and agreed to make a donation to charity after accepting he had made a defamatory comment about a journalist.

Alan Ferguson made the comment during a personal attack on Hadleigh Nub News editor Derek Davis, which has now been removed from social media.

The full apology reads:

In a Hadleigh Post comment dated 1 March 2021, I said that Derek Davis had accused me of participating in an unlawful convoy that drove from Haleigh to Cllr John Ward's house to protest about in the introduction of car parking charges in Hadleigh.

I now acknowledge that the allegations of unlawful activity to which I referred were not written by Derek Davis, but one of his Hadleigh Nub News correspondents, namely, Rowland Taylor's ghost.

I apologise unreservedly for this error and any inconvenience that this may have caused.

Alan Ferguson

The apology is part of four actions agreed by Mr Ferguson followings comment. The others were to:

Make a small donation to a charity to be agreed.

Remove the post in question from social media platforms.

Not to repeat the comments that are judged to be defamatory.

Mr Davis said: "I accept the apology and the other actions by Ferguson in this matter and will happily put this behind us and move on.

"Defamation law, for both libel and slander, are there to protect all of us. It is unusual for journalists to take action such as this, and as an experienced journalist I'm well used to criticism that can come our way by people who may not like an article involving them.

"However, personal attacks which include false and inaccurate claims designed to lower us in the eyes of others, which in turn could cause them to shun the individuals or news outlets, are unacceptable and I decided on this occasion to make a stand."