A High Court battle has left Winchester Conservatives with a lot of apologising to do.

Members of the Independent group on Winchester City Council objected to a leaflet published by the Tories and distributed to residents in Shedfield, near Wickham, before last year's local elections on June 10th.

It accused the Independent group, and Shedfield member, Ashley Goodall in particular, of being in cahoots with the ruling Liberal Democrats.

When the Tories refused to say sorry, the Independent group launched a libel action. They took Winchester Conservative Association to the High Court in London, along with party agent, Sheena Nicholson and their Shedfield candidate, Roger Huxstep.

Both sides have now agreed a "consent order" through the court, which states that the Tories were in the wrong. The Conservatives must send a leaflet to every home in Shedfield apologising to the Independent group and saying their June leaflet was "incorrect".

The Tories spent £200 publishing their climb-down, which was distributed this week. They will also have to pay damages of £500 to Ashley Goodall and colleagues, Colin Chamberlain, Jean Hammerton, Paul Hoare and Georgina Busher, making a total of £2,500. As well as their own legal costs, the Tories will have to cover the Independent group's legal bill of £7,650.

Despite the amount involved, Mrs Nicholson said Winchester Tories would not be out of pocket. "Insurance covered it all." She added that their war chest for the HCC election and General Election later this year was unaffected.

Mr Chamberlain, who leads the Independent group, said they would all donate the cash to charity.

Mr Goodall, who retained his seat, plans to give his £500 to the 1st Shedfield St John the Baptist Scout Group, which is raising money for a new hut after fire destroyed the old one in 2003.

He added: "They were given ample opportunity to apologise and retract their ludicrous claims but they did not. Ultimately, in order to have these damaging claims withdrawn, we were forced to take legal action."

Mrs Nicholson declined to comment on why the Tories apologised, having originally refused to do so.