From Malta Today:
A British far-right activist, Paul Adam Cinato, has been ordered to pay €5,000 in damages to a UK national after publishing three articles in his personal blog in 2012, which were deemed defamatory by the Maltese courts.
…Magistrate Francesco Depasquale today heard how Cinato, whose last known address was Marsaxlokk, publishes a blog under the pseudonym Lionheart. In April and May of 2012, three of his articles attacked English national Alan Derek Ayling, who in the past has denied allegations he is the financier of the English Defence League, allegedly met Cinato in England to discuss the UK’s political situation…
Both men were associated with the early days of the EDL: Cinato, better known as Paul Ray, was involved with organising football hooligans into anti-Islam protests in Luton back in April 2009, although by the following August he had been sidelined as the EDL began to establish a coherently branded presence. As noted above, Alan Ayling (then known as “Alan Lake”) gained a reputation as the EDL’s “financier”, although this seems to have been exaggerated. The EDL officially repudiated him in August 2011, after bad publicity arising from some of his statements.
Ayling and Cinato were also a focus of media attention following the massacre in Utoya; Anders Breivik’s manifesto included references to having met a “Richard the Lionhearted” in London, and journalists seized on the similarly between this name and Cinato’s blog pseudonym “Lionheart”. While condemning Breivik’s actions, Cinato appeared to welcome the publicity (he featured on the front page of the London Times), although I don’t think there was any actual connection, for reasons I explained at the time. Ayling, meanwhile, gave an interview with Dagbladet following a conversation with police in Norway, in which he told the paper that “if I inspired [Breivik], he misunderstood.”
Since that time, the two men have largely slipped out of public view, although Cinato has continued to pump out postings about Ayling. To a large extent, these consist of photos of Ayling linked with big red arrows to photos of Breivik placed above feverishly conspiratorial commentary. According to Ayling’s testimony to the court:
…the allegations destroyed his marriage and… he was forced to quit his job as a database manager at the European Bank for Resources and Development. “Wherever I travel I’m haunted by Lionheart’s allegations,”
Cinato was ordered to pay 5,000 Euros, but it’s not clear whether he still resides in Malta.
(H/T Hope Not Hate)
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