Donna and Neil Sands

AN IRISH COUPLE have been awarded £300,000 after suing the publishers of controversial “gossip” website Tattle Life in a Northern Ireland court. 

Business people Neil and Donna Sands were originally awarded £300,000 damages against the then-unknown operators of Tattle Life in late 2023.

Donna Sands runs the popular clothing brand Sylkie, while Neil Sands is an AI founder and businessman. The couple were subject to defamation and harassment on the website.

Tattle Life describes itself as a platform for “commentary and critiques of people that choose to monetise their personal life as a business and release it into the public domain”. It attracts up to 12 million visitors monthly, mostly in the UK.

However, the website has long been criticised in Ireland and the UK for threads of toxic discourse based on anonymous online attacks. Numerous Irish influencers and business people have spoken publicly about the effect rumours and inaccurate information had on their lives.

“Threads” or message boards on the website are often filled with criticism on influencers body types, relationships, parenting styles or business practices with little to no proof or evidence. Users mostly comment on the threads anonymously. 

The High Court of Justice in Northern Ireland today granted an application to lift reporting restrictions, as well as orders leading to the identity of the publisher of the controversial website being revealed after a two-year legal battle.

The operator is Sebastian Bond, a businessman who according to the plaintiffs’ legal team uses a number of aliases, including Bastian Durward – known on the internet as a vegan cooking influencer and author of the book “Nest and Glow”.

The Nest and Glow Instagram account has 135,000 followers.

In the latest hearing this week, the plaintiffs submitted to the court that they had identified the actual publishers and sought an order to name them.

In the subsequent order today, Mr Justice Colton confirmed the defendants in the case could now be named as Bond, plus two of his firms – Yuzu Zest Limited (a UK registered company) and Kumquat Tree Limited (registered in Hong Kong).

During Thursday’s hearing, the court was shown a letter sent to one of the plaintiffs by a legal firm acting for Sebastian Bond. The letter stated that Bond was a founder of Tattle Life but that he was unaware of any legal proceedings against him. The Sands’ legal team disputed that Bond was unaware of the actions and orders related to Tattle Life. 

Timeline

Neil Sands first wrote to the website’s operators in February 2021, asking them to remove a defamatory thread or face legal action, but say they were eventually left with no option other than to formally initiate proceedings, at their own cost, in June 2023.

The couple claimed to be subject to defamatory and harassing commentary over a 45-page thread that was only finally removed in May 2025.

The Sands’ said they were motivated to undertake the action not just on their own behalf but for all those impacted by what they saw as targeted abuse published on the site over many years. The Sands were awarded £150,000 each in damages. 

The Court also granted injunctive relief (to ensure no posting about the couple should be repeated) and a series of orders designed to trace and freeze assets. 

In making his award, Mr Justice McAlinden noted: “A day of reckoning will come for those behind Tattle Life and for those individuals who posted on Tattle Life.

“To hasten that day of reckoning, it is appropriate that the court makes an award of damages to each plaintiff in this case.

“It would be remiss of the court to award costs on any other basis than indemnity.”

(Indemnity costs include all fees and expenditure incurred by the party taking the litigation, in this case, the Sands’.)

And on the defendant’s business model, the judge said: “This is clearly a case of peddling untruths for profit.

“It is the exercise of extreme cynicism — the calculated exercise of extreme cynicism — which in reality constitutes behaviour solely aimed at making profit out of people’s misery.

“People facilitating this are making money out of it… protecting their income streams by protecting the identity of the individual posters.”

In December 2023, the High Court granted the £300,000 damages award and ordered that legal costs be paid on an indemnity basis, with further costs and third-party compliance expenses raising the total to be injuncted to £1.8 million.

The “cessation” figure – the amount payable by the defendants to lift the freezing orders – now stands at £1,077,173.00.

This is understood to be the largest damages award for defamation in Northern Ireland’s legal history and includes extensive freezing orders against the identified defendants and their corporate interests, now subject to continuing enforcement and disclosure proceedings.

The case was complicated by difficulties in tracking down Sebastian Bond who resided in a number of Asian countries and transferred large amounts of cash from UK bank accounts in an apparent bid to frustrate the orders made against him.

The couple succeeded in freezing money believed to be the proceeds of Tattle Life in a range of jurisdictions around the world.

Neil Sands said: “We undertook this case not just for ourselves but for the many people who have suffered serious personal and professional harm through anonymous online attacks on this and other websites.

“We believe in free speech, but not consequence-free speech – particularly where it is intended to, and succeeds in, causing real-world damage to people’s lives, livelihoods and mental health. We were in the fortunate position to be able to take the fight to these faceless operators, and it took a lot of time, effort and expense.

“Along the way we heard many stories from those damaged by the scurrilous commentary on the website and we are glad to be finally able to shine a light into this dark corner of the internet. What we have established today is that the internet is not an anonymous place.

“We are grateful to the Court for recognising the seriousness of the conduct involved in this case. We would also like to extend our sincere thanks to our legal team at Gateley NI – partners Peter Barr and Rory Lynch – to Northern Ireland counsel, Peter Girvan- and to our technology partners, for their unwavering commitment, professionalism and expertise throughout these proceedings.”

Peter Barr, Gateley NI, added: “This wasn’t just a matter of law – it was a global forensic investigation. We had to pursue the money around the world, from the UK to Hong Kong, using a mix of legal innovation and digital evidence to expose what was clearly a sophisticated effort to avoid scrutiny. This judgment sends a clear message that online anonymity cannot shield unlawful behaviour.”

Rory Lynch, partner and head of reputation management at Gateley NI, also said: “This was a game of high stakes, international cat and mouse that ran for three years, with an anonymous defendant determined to avoid accountability at every turn. It is testament to the indefatigable determination and courage of Neil and Donna Sands that justice was rightly served.”

A further case review is scheduled at the High Court for 26 June 2025.