By Eric King-

The column, published in 2015 said US authorities were right to stop Mohammed Tariq Mahmood, his brother Mohammed Zahid Mahmood and nine children from travelling to Los Angeles for a trip to Disneyland last year. Hopkins also suggested that the brothers were extremists with links to al-Qaida.

The error is alarming and strange to say the least.The online publication rectified the error in a Sunday publication stating:

 “We and Katie Hopkins apologise to the Mahmood family for the distress and embarrassment caused and have agreed to pay them substantial damages and their legal costs.”

Hopkins article discredited the family’s reasons for travelling to the U.S, suggesting it was a lie, and claiming she should have stopped them from boarding the flight from Gatwick. She subsequently suggested that Mohammed Tariq Mahmood’s son Hamza, had created a Facebook  allegedly containing extremist material. The Daily Mail had somehow believed the information they had published to be correct without adequately confirming the facts.

The Mahmoof family were satisfied with the compensation. In a statement through their lawyers, Carter Ruck, they said:

“Even to this day, the US authorities have not explained the reason why we were not permitted to travel; we assume it was an error or even a case of mistaken identity,” they said in a statement provided by their lawyers, Carter Ruck.

“However, matters are not helped when sensationalist and, frankly, Islamophobic articles such as this are published, and which caused us all a great deal of distress and anxiety. We are very pleased that the record has been set straight.

 Mahmood’s lawyers said that while most of the coverage of the Mahmood family’s ordeal had been fair and balanced, “there was absolutely no basis for suggesting that any of the Mahmoods were or are extremists, and the family were simply going on holiday”.

Hopkins has always been a straight talking and controversial columnist, originally working for the Sun newspaper where she had found herself under scrutiny for offensive comments. She was humble enough to accept her unjustified error and tweeted an apology in the early hours of the morning.

Efforts by the eye of media.com to get a response from the Daily Mail failed, but we will be following up again tomorrow.The Daily Mail is one of Britain’s most radical papers, never shy to speak its mind on matters of public interest no matter how its contents might be received.

The paper recently made headlines for branding High Court judges ”the enemy of the people” following the ruling that the government must consult Mps before triggering Article 50 to leave the EU. Theresa May’s government eventually appealled the decision and an outcme is expected in January.