Robert Murat, the first named suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, has settled libel claims against several British news outlets for £500,000, it was reported today.
Lawyers acting for Mr Murat, 34, an Algarve-based property consultant, announced the libel action in April.
Today law firm Simons, Muirhead and Burton confirmed that a statement would be read at the High Court on Thursday, but refused to comment further.
The media outlets named in the original libel action were Sky, the Daily Express, Sunday Express, Daily Star, Daily Mail, Evening Standard, Metro, Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, News of the World, The Sun and The Scotsman.
In May Mr Murat secured an apology from The Scotsman for a piece it ran about the disappearance of four-year-old Madeleine from Praia da Luz in Portugal last year
Maddy suspect in libel win
Robert Murat, a Briton who lives at the Portuguese resort where Madeleine McCann vanished last year, is reported to have won a large libel award from 11 newspapers that had claimed he was involved in her disappearance.
Mr Murat was questioned by Portuguese police and his villa searched soon after Madeleine went missing from her bedroom in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz on May 3 last year.
He was later given "arguido" status, making him a formal suspect, although he denied any involvement.
Mr Murat had often spoken to reporters in the days just after the disappearance of Madeleine, saying she looked like his daughter in England.
His mother's house was about 150 metres from the resort apartment where the McCann family was staying.
Media reports said he had taken legal action in April against 11 British newspapers: the 'Sun', 'Daily Mail', 'Daily Express', 'Sunday Express', 'Daily Star', 'London Evening Standard', 'Metro', 'Daily Mirror', 'Sunday Mirror', 'News of the World' and the 'Scotsman'.
The newspapers have agreed to pay Murat between £250,000 (�?15,000) and £550,000 (�?95,000) and to issue a written apology for their coverage, the reports said.
A formal hearing on the case is due at London's High Court tomorrow.
The news comes after Madeleine's parents Gerry and Kate McCann won £550,000 in damages from the 'Daily Express' and 'Daily Star' in March over stories which suggested they might have killed their daughter.
The papers issued front-page apologies for the "baseless" reports and agreed to pay the money which was donated to the fund set up to find the missing girl.
Despite a worldwide hunt and numerous reported sightings of Madeleine, no confirmed trace of her has ever been found.
Earlier this month, Portuguese police sent their final report on the case to prosecutors, with local media reporting that detectives had ended their investigation.
The McCanns and Murat remain official suspects although reports said police had found insufficient evidence to bring charges against anybody.
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