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Peter Walls, the CEO of Sunderland housing association , has won the payout after suing John Finn, owner of rival housing firm Pallion.

This followed an extended campaign of internet harassment, including accusations of corruption and sexual misconduct.

The claims were made anonymously at the website , which Gentoo eventually discovered was set up the defendants. The website is now defunct.

The site was taken down several times by ISPs in reaction to complaints from Gentoo, but on each occasion the owners of the site were able to keep up the attack by getting another ISP to host it.

The case has been settled today with the agreement that Finn and Pallion will make a payment to Walls, after the defendant failed to produce evidence that backed up the allegations made on the website.

Finn and Pallion have already paid £19,000 to other claimants, including Gentoo, and will have to pay substantial costs.

High Court judge Mr Justice Eady, said: "They [Sunderland Housing Group] have leaned over backwards to be fair and to point out to the defendant the defects of the defence. The defence is a diffuse and unclear document and is quite incapable of serving as a defence for allegations of this gravity."

There has also been a ruling against another contributor to DadsPlace, John Edward Smith, who failed to provide a defence. An earlier judgement had already been made against a third contributor, John Baines.

In a statement, Walls said: "No amount of money can compensate my family for the distress these outrageous and false statements have caused us. What was particularly frightening was the fact that we didn't know who has doing this or why.

"All we knew is that a number of people were spreading false information about me, my colleagues and this company to the point where we were all being asked regularly whether the claims were true and to the point where we were missing out on business opportunities."