A High Court judge has ruled that Tory MP, Andrew Mitchell, did call police officer’s ‘plebs’ in a row outside Downing Street in 2012.

Following a ‘miserable two years’, Andrew Mitchell’s attempts to sue the Sun newspaper has today come to a close, following the satisfaction of a judge that he did call police officer PC Rowland a ‘fucking pleb’. The judge concluded that on ‘the balance of probabilities’, Mr Mitchell’s ‘infamous exchange’ did contain the ‘politically toxic word’.

Mr Mitchell acknowledge that he used bad language in the argument outside Downing Street, but denied using the word ‘pleb’. He may now face charges of around £2 million and remains ‘bitterly disappointed’ about the ruling leaving his ‘political career in tatters’.

Following the claims of fabrication, Mitchell is now liable to pay £300,000 in damages. Mitchell’s counsel, James Price QC, said the claims from the officer were a ‘web of lies, deceit and indiscipline’.

The managing editor of the Sun, Stig Abell, believes the article originally broke as an ‘important public interest story’ and remains ‘proud of its journalism today’. Despite speculation and comment, ‘the judgement today lays all that to rest’.

A Police Federation of England and Wales spokesman are pleased that; ‘Toby’s name has been cleared and integrity restored. It is important that this incident is now brought to a close to allow Toby and his family to look to the future’.

On BBC Radio 4’s The Today Programme, PC Ian Richardson, one of the officers involved has said that this ‘nonsense incident… shouldn’t have costed Mitchell his job’ and the aftermath of police grievances was ‘totally unnecessary’.

Picture: Wikimedia Commons