Columnist Katie Hopkins loses $239,000 libel case over defamatory tweets

SHE’S one of the most controversial media personalities on the entire planet. But now, Katie Hopkins could lose everything.

FOR years, media figure Katie Hopkins has been known as “Britain’s most hated woman”.

But now, it seems the so-called “professional troll’s” love of controversy has come back to bite her.

That’s because the mum-of-three is facing bankruptcy after losing a $239,000 libel case.

The former The Apprentice contestant, who went on to become a high-profile newspaper columnist, author and media personality, has made countless headlines thanks to her divisive views over the years.

In 2013, she sensationally claimed her children would be banned from having friends with certain given names she considered to be lower class, such as Chardonnay, Charmaine or Chantelle.

The 43-year-old has also been accused of fat-shaming on many occasions and is anti-Islam, anti-immigration and pro-Trump.

After the Manchester bombing in 2017, Ms Hopkins sensationally called for a “final solution” to Islamic terror attacks — a term used by the Nazis to refer to the Holocaust.

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But it was comments made on Twitter in May 2015 about food writer and anti-poverty campaigner Jack Monroe that really landed Ms Hopkins in hot water.

In that incident, Ms Hopkins accused Ms Monroe of vandalising a war memorial.

It ended up being a case of mistaken identity — but while Ms Hopkins later deleted her tweet, she did not apologise, and went on to brand the chef “social anthrax” online.

In January 2016, Ms Monroe launched legal action and Ms Hopkins ended up losing the $AU239,000 libel case after High Court judge Mr Justice Warby said the tweets caused Ms Monroe “serious harm”.

Now, Ms Hopkins has applied for an insolvency agreement in a desperate bid to avoid bankruptcy.

If successful, it means she would be able to repay the money she owes over several years instead of in one lump sum.

After losing the case, Ms Hopkins and her husband Mark Cross put their $1.8 million home on the market.

Last November, her contract with the Mail Online was not renewed and she also left her job on radio station LBC last May in response to her “final solution” comments.

Ms Monroe acknowledged the outcome of the case on twitter, but said she wasn’t celebrating Ms Hopkins’ downfall.

“ … I have been paid in full, but many of her creditors, including my lawyer, will not be paid what they are owed. For the want of an apology, a house, a job, a column, a radio show, and now financial solvency, were lost. It’s all very sad, actually,” she posted.

“I’m not cruel nor celebrating — that case cost me 18 months of sanity and work, and I think neither of us wanted it to turn out this way.”

Ironically, Ms Hopkins has slammed people who found themselves in debt in the past.

The only thing people in debt have in common other than bad money management, is an ability to blame anyone but themselves. #debtdebate

— Katie Hopkins (@KTHopkins) March 18, 2014

These days, Ms Hopkins contributes to the far-right Canadian website The Rebel Media.

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