Former Countdown host and national treasure Carol Voderman is among a number of individuals and news outlets receiving letters from suspended GB News reporter Dan Wootton’s legal team, according to a report by Press Gazette.
Wootton is also seeking damages, an apology and the retraction of articles from Byline Times after it reported on the fact he was being investigated by police late last year. Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis, like Vorderman, is reportedly being contacted over comments made on Twitter.
The Gazette adds that Wooton may be considering legal action against other media outlets over articles published in October last year.
Press Gazette reports that Wootton’s lawyer has written a letter before action to Byline Times over its reporting, citing the Bloomberg versus ZXC Supreme Court judgment of 2022.
This case established the precedent that those at the centre of police investigations have a right to privacy until the point at which they are charged with an offence, suggesting that Wooton’s case hinges on privacy rather than defamation.
The fact of the police investigation can now be safely reported after Wootton himself confirmed last week that two police forces, the Met Police and Police Scotland, had concluded investigations against him and would be taking no further action.
He said in a statement: “I have now been completely cleared in two investigations by the Metropolitan and Scottish Police, who have confirmed they will be taking no further action.”
“It is high time that all of our ancient rights were once again upheld, chief among them the right to be presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.”
