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London: The parents of Madeleine McCann won £550,000 (Dh4.07 million) in libel damages on Wednesday from newspapers that repeatedly alleged they killed their missing daughter and covered up her death.
Kate and Gerry McCann received an apology at the High Court in London from the publishers of The Daily Express and Daily Star over more than 100 defamatory stories.
"It is difficult to conceive a more serious allegation than to be falsely accused of being responsible for the death of one's daughter," their lawyer Adam Tudor told the court.
The McCanns said the money would be donated to the fund set up to find their daughter. The family has not yet decided whether to take action against other newspapers.
General theme
Tudor told the court that the articles included a variety of false claims, including that the McCanns killed their daughter, sold her to pay off debts or were involved in "wife-swapping". "The general theme of the articles was to suggest that Mr and Mrs McCann were responsible for the death of Madeleine," he said.
The Daily Express and Daily Star published rare front-page apologies and said there was no evidence to support the claims.
The papers' lawyer Stephen Bacon told the court: "Express Newspapers regrets publishing these extremely serious, yet baseless, allegations."
In a statement read by their spokesman outside court, the McCanns said: "We are pleased that Express Newspapers have admitted the utter falsity of the numerous grotesque and grossly defamatory allegations that their titles published about us on a sustained basis."
Madeleine McCann disappeared shortly before her fourth birthday while on holiday in Praia da Luz, prompting a huge police investigation and blanket media coverage.
Media commentator and former Daily Mirror editor Roy Greenslade said "wild claims" about the McCanns had undermined British journalism. "This was no journalistic accident, but a sustained campaign of vitriol against a grief-stricken family," he wrote in his blog. "The stories were not merely speculative, but laced with innuendo."
Timeline
Days of hope and despair
- May 3, 2007: Madeleine McCann goes missing from her bedroom in the Algarve holiday resort of Praia da Luz while her parents Kate and Gerry are dining just 100 yards away.
- May 5: Police say they believe she is still alive and being held within 5km of the crime scene.
- May 14: A British man, Robert Murat, is taken to a police station for questioning. He is later released.
- May 30: The McCanns meet Pope Benedict during a general audience at the Vatican.
- June 1: The couple embark on a tour to publicise their campaign. Countries visited include Spain, Germany, Morocco and the United States.
- August 7: Traces of blood have been found on the wall of the apartment where the girl went missing, local newspaper Diario de Noticias says.
- August 11: Portuguese police Chief Inspector Olegario Sousa tells the BBC that she may be dead.
- September 7: Police name Kate and Gerry McCann as suspects, but bring no charges.
- September 9: The couple fly back to Britain with their twins.
- October 2: Goncalo Amaral, the detective leading the investigation, is removed from the case.
- October 9: His replacement is named as senior officer Paulo Rebelo.
- October 24: Spanish TV broadcasts an interview with Gerry and Kate McCann. They describe claims they drugged their daughter as 'outrageous'.
- December 22: Gerry and Kate McCann issue a Christmas message urging their daughter to 'be brave'.
- January 9, 2008: The parents deny reports that they plan to turn their story into a film.
- January 20: They release new pictures of a possible suspect based on a tourist's account.
- February 3: The head of Portugal's police says authorities were hasty in naming the parents as suspects in her disappearance.
- February 13: Portuguese Justice Minister Alberto Costa says the investigation is close to an end.
- February 21: French police dismiss a possible sighting of the girl near the Mediterranean port city of Sete.
- March 19: The Daily Express and Daily Star apologise.
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