Celebrity doctor Dr Christian Jessen has told the High Court in Belfast that he did not intend to cause "any distress" when he tweeted an unsubstantiated rumour about Northern Ireland's First Minister Arlene Foster having an extra-marital affair.
He posted the tweet on December 23, 2019, the court heard last week, and two weeks after the message went up online it was removed.And today Jessen told the court that he posted the tweet based on rumours he read about on social media and that he wanted to highlight “possible hypocrisy behind it”, referring to the DUP’s position on same-sex marriage and abortion and that he was aware that it was "unpleasant.
Mrs Foster said she had to sit down with her two elder children – then aged 17 and 19 – as well as her elderly mother, then aged 85, and assure them the rumour was untrue.
This week he was ordered to travel to Belfast later to testify and face cross-examination - which he did today. But newly-instructed lawyers for Dr Jessen lodged an urgent application for permission to make the case that he never received documents or dates for earlier stages in the proceedings.