McCann suspect launches record libel action

A SUSPECT in the case of missing British toddler Madeleine McCann is to sue 12 top British media outlets, his lawyers said on Sunday, in what could be the country’s biggest-ever libel claim.

Robert Murat, 34, denies any involvement in the disappearance of the then three-year-old, who vanished from a holiday apartment in the Portuguese beach resort of Praia da Luz on May 3 last year.

The British expatriate, a self-employed property developer, lives 100 metres from the apartment.

London-based law firm Simons Muirhead & Burton confirmed they were “representing Robert Murat in respect of a number of libel actions.”

The firm named television broadcaster Sky, the national newspapers the Daily Express, the Sunday Express, the Daily Star, the Daily Mail, the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, News of the World, The Sun, plus The Scotsman, London daily the Evening Standard and morning city freesheet Metro.

Litigation expert Caroline Kean, from media law specialists Wiggin, said if Mr Murat successfully argued the articles inferred he was involved in the abduction or murder of Madeleine, his claims could result in a record British payout.

“You could expect at least £200,000(€252,000) per paper, per claim, and that would clear £2 million,” she told The Observer newspaper.

The Observer said it was the largest ever number of separate libel claims to be brought against the British media by the same person on the same issue.

Mr Murat has been under intense media scrutiny since he was the subject of a Sunday Mirror story headlined “Why I shopped Maddy suspect.”

In March, Madeleine’s parents, Gerry and Kate, won a libel settlement from Express Newspapers over suggestions they were involved in her disappearance. The group paid £550,000 in damages to their Find Madeleine fund.