Victory for free speech as husband is cleared of using internet to harass wife's lover

Man arrested by British "anti-terrorism" police for Twitter posts which just gave information about another British man

A cuckolded husband who used Twitter to tell 'most of the country' about his wife's affair with her married millionaire boss was cleared of harassment yesterday. Ian Puddick, 41, wept with relief and claimed a 'victory for free speech' after the decision.

The plumbing company boss had been accused of mounting a smear campaign to take revenge on his love rival, City insurance broker Timothy Haynes, by broadcasting on a host of social networking websites 'graphic' details about the 'deceitful' ten-year affair.

But yesterday District Judge Elizabeth Roscoe dismissed the charges in a landmark verdict that could help define the limits of free expression on the internet.

In court, Mr Puddick said he had been the victim of an 'abuse of power' which had led to a 'corrupt' police investigation costing taxpayers £1million.

He accused Mr Haynes's former employer Guy Carpenter Ltd, one of the world's largest financial companies, of getting private security firm Kroll to 'pull in favours' to have him arrested by City of London counter-terrorism police after another force had rejected Mr Haynes's complaints of harassment. 'There has been an abuse of power,' he said.

'As I said to the judge, if this can happen to me – and I'm not the kind of guy to get raided by anti-terror cops – then it can happen to anyone.'

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