Cricketer Ben Stokes Settles Lawsuit With ‘The Sun’ Over Family Tragedy Article

The Sun newspaper has paid damages to England cricketer Ben Stokes for publishing a front-page article detailing a tragic family incident. The article, published in September 2019, sparked a legal battle between the two parties that has just been resolved two years after the fact.

In its defense, The Sun initially maintained they had received the co-operation of a family member in the story’s writing, and argued that the details of the piece were “a matter of public record” and “the subject of extensive front-page publicity in New Zealand at the time.” A spokesperson for The Sun stated, “The Sun has the utmost sympathy for Ben Stokes and his mother but it is only right to point out the story was told with the co-operation of a family member who supplied details, provided photographs and posed for pictures.”

Tensions quickly heated between the conservative tabloid newspaper and the two-time Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World. As part of Stokes’ response to the story’s publication, he stated, “For more than three decades, my family has worked hard to deal with the private trauma inevitably associated with these events and has taken great care to keep private what were deeply personal and traumatic events. On Saturday, The Sun sent a ‘reporter’ to my parents’ home in New Zealand to question them, out of the blue, on this incredibly upsetting topic. If that wasn’t bad enough, The Sun think it is acceptable to sensationalize our personal tragedy for their front page.”

Rather than taking the case to court, The Sun has decided to settle the case and agree to pay damages. The organization issued the following apology:

“On September 17 2019 we published a story titled “Tragedy that Haunts Stokes’ Family’ which described a tragic incident that had occurred to Deborah Stokes, the mother of Ben Stokes, in New Zealand in 1988. The article caused great distress to the Stokes family, and especially to Deborah Stokes. We should not have published the article. We apologize to Deborah and Ben Stokes. We have agreed to pay them damages and their legal costs.”

While the settlement may be coming to an end, Stokes and his mother Deborah Stokes remain unwavering in their denunciation of The Sun.

“The decision to publish this article was a decision to expose and to profit from exposing, intensely private and painful matters within our family. The suffering caused to our family by the publication of this article is something we cannot forgive.”

“Ben and I can take no pleasure in concluding this settlement with The Sun. We can only hope that our actions in holding the paper to account will leave a lasting mark, and one that will contribute to prevent other families from having to suffer the same pain as was inflicted on our family by this article.”

Article by Alex Sherman