The TV star told the London High Court he was “victim of a campaign of vicious and relentless intimidation.”
Chris Packham won a libel case accusing him of defrauding a conservation foundation.
The articles concern the Wildheart Trust, which operates a conservation refuge on the Isle of Wight.
During the proceedings, the 62-year-old told the High Court in London that he had become the “victim of a campaign of vile and relentless intimidation” due to the allegations.
He stated that the allegations had fueled “a vocal and violent fringe of conspiratorialists who increasingly post threatening and obscene material about me and my family” and that “random dead animals and human feces” had been sent to him regularly.
The TV naturalist sued Dominic Wightman, the online magazine’s editor, Nigel Bean, and Paul Read.
His case against Mr. Wightman and Mr. Bean was successful, but the magistrate dismissed his claim against Mr. Read.
Mr. Wightman and Mr. Bean were ordered to pay the television host £90,000 in damages.
“Mr. Packham did not deceive,” Justice Saini wrote in a 58-page ruling.
“He did not commit any type of fraud while making the fundraising statements.”
“Masked assailants torched the entrance to his home,”
Mr. Packham has always vehemently denied allegations that he defrauded and coerced people into donating to the tiger rescue charity, knowing that the animals were well looked for.
It was also alleged that he raised funds dishonestly for the charity at the start of the COVID pandemic. Knowing that the charity was to receive £500,000 from insurers.
Mr. Wightman and Mr. Bean’s solicitors stated that the articles could be defended as genuine. Whereas Mr. Read stated that he was not responsible for the publications because he was merely a “proofreader.”
“I no longer expect to live a long life free from violence and intimidation,” Mr. Packham stated in a 50-page witness statement.
Because it may only take one person reading Country Squire Magazine for terrible things to occur.
He informed the court that “masked attackers” burned a car and ruined his home’s entrance.
