Louis Walsh wins damages

The X Factor judge Louis Walsh has said he was satisfied to have been vindicated but still "very angry" at the way he had been treated by The Sun.

Speaking outside Dublin High Court, he said he was "absolutely gutted and traumatised that these allegations against me should have been published".

Louis Walsh's lawyer said after today's verdict that the story about his client "should never have been published".

Paul Tweed confirmed that Walsh would be paid damages of more than £400,000 along with his legal costs.

He added that the case highlights the "serious damage that can be inflicted on an individual ... by the publication of totally unfounded allegations which, in the age of the internet, can circumnavigate the globe in a matter of seconds."

Speaking outside Dublin High Court, Louis Walsh said he would not have wished what happened to him on his worst enemy.

"I'm very relieved," he said.

"This has had a terrible effect on me guys. It was all lies.

"And I'm very satisfied with this total vindication for me, but I remain very angry at the treatment I received at the hands of The Sun."

An apology addressed to Louis Walsh was read out on behalf of News Group Newspapers to the High Court in Dublin:

Louis Walsh won a defamation case against The Sun over a story last year based on a false allegation that he sexually assaulted a man in a Dublin night-spot.

Walsh took legal action against the publisher for damages over the article published on 23 June 2011 with the headline "Louis Probed Over 'Sex Attack' on Man in Loo".

The man who made the allegation - an unemployed dance teacher called Leonard Watters - was jailed for six months in July for wrongly accusing Walsh of groping him after a Westlife concert in April 2011.

The X Factor judge Louis Walsh has settled a 500,000 euro (£403,500) defamation action against Rupert Murdoch's News Group Newspapers out of court in Ireland over a story based on an unfounded sex assault allegation.