Riley is currently on maternity leave at Channel 4 and had complained about Laura Murray’s tweet.
The case was supervised by Mr Justice Nicklin in May. He said that Ms. Riley was entitled to vindication.
He did however note that there was a clear element of provocation from the TV star.
Ms Riley expressed her delight at Monday’s verdict and said that she was “extremely happy” to have won.
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See original tweet on Twitter
The court heard that both women were in their 30s and had posted tweets following the egging of Corbyn in March 2019 at a mosque.
Ms Riley shared a screenshot from Owen Jones’ tweet about Nick Griffin’s attack on the former British National Party leader. It read: “I think sound advice is, If you don’t want eggs being thrown at you then don’t be Nazi.”
She added “Good advice” with accompanying emojis (an egg and a rose) – which is the Labour party’s emblem.
Ms Murray was a stakeholder manager in Mr Corbyn’s office and later became the head of complaints for the party. She then tweeted: “Today Jeremy Corbyn visited his local mosque to celebrate Visit My Mosque Day and was attacked and beaten by a Brexiteer.
“Rachel Riley tweeted that Corbyn should be brutally attacked for being a Nazi because he is. This woman is just as stupid as she is dangerous. She should not be trusted. Ever.”
Ms. Riley claimed she was being sarcastic with her tweet, and that she hadn’t called Mr Corbyn Nazi. She claimed that Ms Murray’s tweet had done serious damage to her reputation. She also added that her tweet was true and expressed her honest opinions.
She stated to the judge that she was Jewish and had a hatred of antisemitism, which she believed the Corbyn-led Labour party had fostered.
Labour suspended Corbyn’s membership of the party after he resigned as leader. This was in preparation for an anti-Semitism investigation. Later, he was reinstated by Labour but Sir Keir Starmer, the new Labour leader, removed the whip. This meant that he would no more be a member of the Parliamentary Labour Party.
Jeremy Corbyn, Labour leader, stated that there was no place for anti-Semitism in the party.
‘Unusual case’
Mr Justice Nicklin was asked whether Ms Riley had suffered serious damage to her reputation and whether Ms Murray had made a defense of truth, honesty, or the public interest.
“This case was unusual,” stated the judge who had previously ruled Ms Murray’s tweet defamatory in a written ruling. It all comes down to two tweets, the good advice tweet, and the defendant’s tweet.
“I found that the tweet of the defendant has done serious damage to the reputation of the claimant, and I have rejected defendant’s defenses.
“The claimant therefore has the right to damages in the amount of a specified sum.”
He said that Ms Murray had misrepresented Ms Riley’s tweets. He rejected the argument of Ms Riley that Ms Murray was “motivated by any inappropriate purpose”.
Although it was not “bad conduct”, he stated that Ms Riley’s tweet could have been viewed as “provocative or even mischievous”.
He concluded that there was a clear provocation in the good advise tweet. The claimant must have understood that the meaning of good advice tweet was ambiguous. It could be read as suggesting that Jeremy Corbyn deserved an egged due to his political views.”
“The claimant cannot be surprised – and she cannot complain – that the tweet of good advice provoked such a reaction, even the tweet by the defendant.”
He said that such context was considered when deciding the amount of damages she would get.
Riley is the maths expert on Countdown, a Channel 4 series. Along with Anne Robinson, she appears as lexicographer Susie Dent.
