With his novel, “Johnny Come Home,” Jake Arnott inadvertently libelled a man who shares a name and other traits with a fictional character. “Where real names are involved, an author cannot hide behind that all-purpose shield: ‘any resemblance is purely coincidental’. Nor do the courts accept ignorance as a defence. If you can be shown, by using a real-life name, to have injured a real-life reputation, then you will pay. The law is right alongside the Bard: ‘He who steals my purse, steals trash. But he who steals my good name, steals all that I have.’ You’re safe, of course, if your named victim has no good name to lose.”