Peter Caruana Galizia, the husband of The Malta Independent columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia, dropped the charges against her in the court case that was due to begin yesterday.

He had filed a police report against Mrs Caruana Galizia, claiming they had had an argument and she had thrown a plate at him, injuring him slightly.

The case seemingly started off the saga between Mrs Caruana Galizia and Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera, which began with a post on the columnist’s blog on 29 January.

In this first of a long series of posts – in which Mrs Caruana Galizia made a number of allegations about the magistrate – she wrote: “Last Saturday, Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera threw a dinner party at the home she shares with her lover Robert Musumeci, and told her guests to be sure to buy Malta Today the following morning.

“‘There’s going to be a story about Daphne and Peter’ she said, and proceeded to give them the details of what the story would be about.”

The magistrate has filed a police report over the blog posts in which she is mentioned. Mrs Caruana Galizia was then charged in court, accused of publishing material that the magistrate found offensive and defamatory. The case has not been concluded.