by Felicity Collier

THREE Rotherham Labour MPs successfully sued Ukip MEP Jane Collins for libel and slander at London’s High Court yesterday over her allegations that they knew about the town’s child sexual abuse scandal but did nothing. 

Sir Kevin Barron, MP for Rother Valley, John Healey, who represents Wentworth and Dearne, and Sarah Champion, MP for Rotherham, won £54,000 each in damages from Ms Collins, who is MEP for Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire.

The case was prompted by a speech Ms Collins gave at Ukip’s conference in September 2014, a month after a report found that 1,400 children in Rotherham had been abused between 1997-2013.

Mr Justice Warby said she had alleged that the MPs knew many of the details of the exploitation yet deliberately chose to do nothing.

She argued that the MPs had failed to speak out against the attacks perpetrated mostly by Asian men due to political correctness, cowardice or selfishness and that they were guilty of misconduct.

Ms Collins defended her comments by saying that it was a political speech, which did not contain any allegation of fact and merely expressed her opinion.

She refused to withdraw the allegations during the 2015 general election campaign despite the three MPs receiving abuse on social media.

She also refused to apologise and repeatedly tried to delay legal action.

Ms Collins made an offer of amends which was accepted — but the amount of compensation could not be agreed so the case came back to court.

The judge said that all three MPs found the experience “genuinely and significantly distressing.

“They felt that their careers were at stake, and that their integrity was under serious attack.”