A Police officer has won "substantial" five-figure damages from the Bermuda Sun after it published allegedly defamatory comments about him on its website. The postings were made about constable Robert Butterfield by third parties under the pseudonyms "Spykid" and "Conch" after the paper reported he was facing a stalking charge last December.

According to his lawyer Richard Horseman, one suggested the 37-year-old was involved in attacks on women on the South Shore, and the other that he was unfit to be a Police officer.

Mr. Butterfield was eventually acquitted of the stalking charge by a Magistrate in May this year and set about suing the Bermuda Sun for defamation, with Mr. Horseman claiming the website comments were published "falsely and maliciously".

According to Sun editor Tony McWilliam, the remarks got into the public domain due to a glitch over the Christmas holidays and monitoring of the website has since been stepped up.

The matter was recently settled out of court. The Sun printed apologies disassociating itself from the comments and acknowledging they should never have been posted and the offending remarks have been removed from the website.

Mr. Horseman described the financial settlement as "substantial" but said his client did not wish to divulge the exact amount. He added: "Mr. Butterfield is glad that the matter has now been resolved. While the comments were not made by the Bermuda Sun, they were allowed to be posted on the Sun's website. Those comments were clearly defamatory. The comments were extremely hurtful to Mr. Butterfield, particularly the accusation that he was behind the attacks on women that took place on the South Shore."

Mr. Horseman said the newspaper never divulged the real names of the people who made the allegations.

"The individuals who actually posted the comments hid behind the names "Spykid" and "Conch". Where personal attacks are launched, individuals should not be entitled to hide behind nicknames. We would invite these individuals to come out and identify themselves and put their money where their mouth is. As far as the Bermuda Sun is concerned, they made an error in permitting the comments concerned and they have done the right thing," he said.

Mr. McWilliam said: "All comments are read by at least one member of the editorial team before being uploaded to our website. If a comment is particularly controversial, it routinely gets forwarded to me, as editor, for approval. In this case, there was an internal glitch over the Christmas holiday period and the offending comments were posted before I had any knowledge of them.

"When the comments were brought to my attention, they were immediately removed. The sender of the most damaging comments has been barred from our website. Our policy had worked well up until this point; the only subsequent change is that more comments are sent to me for approval than was previously the case. We continue to welcome feedback on our stories; interaction with readers helps us to improve what we do. It's a well-worn phrase but freedom of expression comes with responsibilities and people should not attempt to use the media to make unfounded personal allegations."

He declined to comment on the size of the damages paid.

Mr. Butterfield was suspended from his job as a Police officer while he faced the stalking charge. According to Mr. Horseman, he was re-instated after his name was cleared, and is back on active duty.