Enoch Burke has lost his defamation action against the Sunday Independent.

He sued the newspaper over an article that claimed he was moved to a new cell in Mountjoy Prison for annoying fellow inmates – something that wasn’t actually true.

The article, which was published in October 2022, reported that Enoch Burke had been moved out of the prison’s general population “for his own safety.”

Following his imprisonment for defying a court order, it claimed he had been annoying fellow inmates by repeatedly expressing his outspoken views and beliefs.

Mr Burke claimed that was untrue and extremely damaging to his reputation.

In a detailed judgement released this morning, the judge has agreed that the article got it wrong but decided that Mr Burke hadn’t established that his reputation was damaged by it – a crucial test in defamation actions.

Even if the article was capable of damaging his reputation, the judge ruled that with regard to Mr Burke’s actual reputation at the time it was published back in 2022, the article couldn’t have injured his reputation.