exclusive Twitter troll forced to pay £100k libel damages to Stephen Nolan is Stormont adviser

Nolan has stuck to the agreement, saying it shows that he is the “bigger man”.

The faceless troll who is believed to live in Co Down is now facing further legal action from one prominent DUP figure and loyalist campaigner Jamie Bryson, both of whom accuse him of libel.

A second leading DUP figure is also considering action.

The defamatory tweets which led to his £100,000 Nolan payout included falsely linking the Radio Ulster host to loyalist paramilitaries, and accusing him of inciting trouble on the streets, racism and homophobia.

Pastor Jimberoo previously revealed biographical details online including that job includes having “advised government officials in NI (Northern Ireland) and to a lesser extent in the UK and the south”.

“I’m grammar school and university educated. My degree was in law and politics,” he said in the online article.

“Professionally my background over the past 25 years is in finance and economics, advising Government officials in NI and to a lesser extent UK and the South; mainly ‘making the case’ for major expenditure decisions on a variety of projects and programmes including various community based projects.

“I prefer to remain anonymous because of my work for which I am always extremely impartial/ objective.”

Understood to be educated at Campbell College in east Belfast, the anonymous account holder describes himself as “middle-aged, from a Protestant cultural background, although I am not religious in the traditional sense”.

Pastor Jimberoo added that he is married to a Catholic whose family are mostly ‘small n’ nationalist, and that he votes Alliance “partly because I want to see a shared society and move away from the them and us approach that typifies politics here”.

While a member of his security team formally served notice on him, Nolan used his own personal investigative expertise to track down his harasser.

When they served a writ to Pastor Jimberoo at his home address the presenter said that “his little fantasy world collapsed around him”.

This was after the troll had put together an online petition which attracted more than 25,000 signatures calling for Nolan to be sacked from the BBC.

“This troll sent out a petition trying to get me sacked. He wrote to the BBC complaining about me,” said Nolan.

“(He) Tried to concoct lie after lie about me, so I am glad that he now understands his errors, and he better not ever do it again.”

Although Nolan is refusing to name Pastor Jimberoo, lawyers for Jamie Bryson — who also believes he was libelled — are seeking confirmation of his identity from his lawyers KRW Law.

If this is not provided the loyalist has threatened legal action to force the handover.

In a statement issued through KRW Law, the Pastor Jimberoo account holder apologised to Stephen Nolan, saying: “I fully accept that the offending allegations had been totally unsubstantiated and without foundation.

“I unreservedly apologise to Mr Nolan for any distress caused and confirm that the aforesaid Twitter accounts have since been deleted.”

As well as trolling Nolan the Pastor Jimberoo account also made outlandish allegations against DUP politicians, including a tweet which suggested one beat his wife.

He branded government, police and the media “corrupt”, and accused the DUP of being “morally, intellectually and financially corrupt from head to toe”.

Referencing his comfortable lifestyle, which has allowed him to pay libel damages of £100,000 to Stephen Nolan, Pastor Jimberoo tweeted: “My working assumption is that by age 65 I’d need £1.5m net worth to fund retirement to current living standards — which is a good living standard but by no means ‘lavish’.”

In his online article titled The Economics of Unification, Jimberoo explains how Brexit changed his mind on the issue of a United Ireland.

“Up until Brexit I was fairly ‘agnostic’ on the constitution... On balance, prior to Brexit, I would probably have voted in favour of NI remaining in the union, mainly on economic grounds, though I would have had no major difficulty of the outcome was a UI. abuse

“Brexit changed all that for me... Brexit in my professional opinion represents economic self-harm for the whole of the UK for what appears to me to be petty (mostly English) nationalistic reasons which have little foundation with even the most cursory of investigation.”

Last Friday Nolan revealed details of a second five-figure settlement from a Twitter user who libelled him and then apologised after being tracked down.

Sunday Life understands the TV presenter has other social media trolls in his sights including a Sinn Fein-supporting businessman from Co Kerry.

cbarnes@sundaylife.co.uk