Sunday Telegraph columnist Julie Burchill has agreed to pay substantial damages to Novara Media journalist Ash Sarkar after making defamatory allegations on Twitter that played into Islamophobic tropes.

Burchill’s false claims that she was an Islamist and a hypocrite have already lost her a book deal after her publisher said she had “crossed a line with regard to race and religion”.

Sarkar (pictured) said: “We should expect a writer at a national newspaper to uphold a basic commitment to honesty. But Burchill subjected me to days of relentless harassment and abuse (including making the absurd and false claim that I worship a paedophile) all because I’m Muslim.