A freelance photographer is facing a £22,000 bill after setting up a fake Facebook page that libelled a former classmate.

Grant Raphael set up a Facebook page in the name of Mathew Firsht and posted false information about Firsht's sexual and political preferences.

Raphael also set up another page for Firsht's television company entitled 'Has Mathew Firsht lied to you?'

The judge described Raphael's claim that the pages had been set up by gatecrashers at a party as "utterly far-fetched".

He awarded Firsht £15,000 in damages and £2,000 for breach of privacy. His television company was awarded £5,000 for libel.

"This case shows that what you post is not harmless, but has consequences," media lawyer Jo Sanders, of Harbottle & Lewis, told the BBC.

"It's easy to think of social networking sites as harmless fun, like chatting with friends, and that things posted there are either a joke or just a mischievous way of causing embarrassment. This ruling puts an end to that.

"The golden rule should be to only put up information or images you are happy for everyone to see and are happy to put your name to."

The two men had been childhood friends but fell out six years ago. The judge said that jealousy had probably inspired the bogus Facebook pages.