The Ulster Unionist MP, Mr Jeffrey Donaldson, won substantial damages yesterday against two newspapers which falsely reported that he attended the funeral of a UDA man who was killed by his own bomb. The Lagan Valley MP's actions against the Irish News and Sunday World were settled in Belfast's High Court and the terms were not revealed. But the court was told the Sunday World had published an apology and there was "an unsatisfactory correction" in the Irish News.
Mr Donaldson's lawyer read a statement on behalf of the Irish News: "On 12 July, 1997, we published a photographic caption indicating that Mr Jeffrey Donaldson, MP, attended the funeral of Brian Morton, a UDA bomber who was killed by his own bomb. We accept that Mr Donaldson did not attend that funeral and that he had no association whatsoever with it. We unreservedly apologise to Mr Donaldson for this error on our part and for the distress which it caused him."