More than £5,000 has been donated to a spoof campaign pretending to raise money for Katie Hopkins’ court costs… but the funds will instead be given to food banks.
Hundreds of people have donated money to the parody online cause, which claims to be trying to help the controversial columnist pay her legal fees.
On Friday public personality Ms Hopkins was ordered to pay £24,000 in damages to food blogger Jack Monroe for a tweet the judge ruled was defamatory.
The Twitter message suggested food poverty campaigner Monroe had taken part in or condoned the defacement of a war memorial.
Now nearly 500 people have donated thousands of pounds to the online fundraising page, which says it aims to help the “amazing and beautiful” newspaper columnist.
The page, on JustGiving, calls the judge’s decision “outrageous” and cites fears the payout could “jeapardise Katie’s career in journalism”.
But continue reading and the charity page reveals its true agenda.
“We’re actually going to give the money to The Trussell Trust,” the page reads. “A FANTASTIC cause who help to provide food banks all over the UK.”
The page was set up by satirical news site the Southend News Network, who told the Standard: “We didn’t think it would take off.
“We’ve raised £5,000 in the space of about seven hours.
“The majority of people donating get the joke. When you read through the comments the people donating get it and are sarcastically supporting the cause”.
The Trussell Trust is a UK-wide network of food banks which provide emergency food to people living in poverty. Last year the trust gave more than 1.1 million food packages to people in crisis.
