County Antrim Couple Awarded £300k Libel Damages Against Tattle Life

Neil and Donna Sands, a business couple from County Antrim, were awarded £300,000 in libel damages following a landmark two-year legal battle against the gossip website Tattle Life, which had published abusive comments about them. The court identified UK national Sebastian Bond and two companies, Yuzu Zest Limited and Kumquat Tree Limited, as operators of the site, which hosts anonymous defamatory posts targeting influencers, celebrities, and the public. The Sandses sued over posts made in February 2021, claiming a campaign of harassment, invasion of privacy, defamation, and breach of data rights, and the court ruled the site was created to deliberately cause harm by allowing damaging anonymous content for profit. The case included freezing orders of more than £1 million on the defendants' assets and involved a worldwide forensic investigation to uncover their identities. The payout is believed to be the largest defamation award of its kind in Northern Ireland, with further legal steps planned to enforce the damages. The Sandses hope their case will encourage others harmed by anonymous online attacks to seek justice.