Murat wins 'substantial' damages for McCann libel

Robert Murat today accepted substantial undisclosed libel damages over an allegation that there were strong grounds for believing that he was guilty of abducting Madeleine McCann.

Mr Murat was not at London’s High Court for the settlement of his action against British Sky Broadcasting Ltd.

His solicitor Louis Charalambous told Mr Justice Eady that an article and video on the Sky News website claimed that in the early days after Madeleine’s disappearance from Praia da Luz, Portugal, in May 2007, Mr Murat’s behaviour was reminiscent of child murderer Ian Huntley.

The article, which was published until April this year, and the video, which was accessible until this September, also suggested that Mr Murat had deliberately tried to mislead journalists by pretending to be acting in an official capacity for the police.

Victoria Shore, counsel for BSkyB, which is also paying Mr Murat’s costs, made an unreserved apology for publishing the false allegations, and the distress caused.

Mr Charalambous told the judge that the allegations were entirely untrue and it was accepted that Mr Murat had no involvement whatever in the abduction of Madeleine.

“The defendant accepts that Mr Murat did not act like a child murderer nor did he try to mislead or lie to any journalists," he said. “It acknowledges that Mr Murat’s actions after the abduction were entirely proper and were motivated by a desire to help find Madeleine McCann.”

He said that Sky’s apology would appear on its website for 12 months.

Ms Shore said that it very much regretted the distress caused by the publications.

In July Mr Murat received a settlement of £600,000 over “seriously defamatory” allegations in nearly 100 articles connecting him with the abduction. He had sued Associated Newspapers, Express Newspapers, MGN Limited and News Group Newspapers.

PA