Wrongly accused ex-politician vows to sue Twitter users

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Andrew Stuart / Associated PressLord Alistair McAlpine, who served as treasurer of Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Party while she ruled Britain during the 1980s, was wrongly linked to a child intercourse abuse scandal as a result of a botched investigation by the BBC's "Newsnight" program. By Keir Simmons, NBC NewsLONDON -- The British child abuse scandal enveloping the country’s much-loved public broadcaster, the BBC, has descended into who said what to whom. But this being 2012, much of it was said through Twitter.

Lawyers for the former Conservative politician, Lord Alistair McAlpine, who was wrongly implicated in connection with intercourse abuse claims by a BBC show, have vowed to end the so-called trial by Twitter. They said they were looking at a "very long list" of users who wrongly repeated the allegations regarding Lord McAlpine with a view to taking legal action in the British courts. Simply deleting the messages would not be enough, the lawyers told The Guardian newspaper.

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