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A British expatriate who was named as a formal suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann is launching one of the largest libel claims in the history of the British media.
Robert Murat lists 11 newspapers and one TV station in his demand for damages, which lawyers believe could lead to a record cumulative payout of more than 2 million ($4.97 million). It is the largest number of separate libel claims made by one person against the British media on the same issue.
Murat, 34, who lived close to the Praia da Luz apartment in Portugal where Madeleine went missing, was made an arguido, or formal suspect, after a British tabloid reporter voiced her concerns to Portuguese police shortly after the child disappeared. The Sunday Mirror journalist claimed that Murat's behaviour was reminiscent of the British child murderer Ian Huntley.
Almost a year after Madeleine's disappearance, the Murat family are seeking a formal public apology and undisclosed damages from the British media in light of what one relative yesterday described as "unfair stains on the name of a man against whom there is not a shred of evidence".
They are understood to be particularly aggrieved at sections of the British press which repeated a range of "outlandish" and frequently lurid allegations that appeared in the Portuguese press after he was named an arguido.
A statement from a London-based firm of solicitors, Simons Muirhead and Burton, confirmed it was "representing Robert Murat in respect of a number of libel actions against Sky, the Daily Express, the Sunday Express, the Daily Star, the Daily Mail the Evening Standard, the Metro, the Daily Mirror, the Sunday Mirror, the News of the World, the Sun and the Scotsman". Simons Muirhead and Burton, which specialises in media litigation, would not comment further on the case.
Media lawyer and litigation expert Caroline Kean of media law specialists Wiggin said that if Murat successfully argued that the articles implied he was involved in the abduction or murder of Madeleine then his claims could result in a record payout.
"You could expect at least 200,000 per paper, per claim, and that would clear 2 million," she said.
The largest libel award stands at 1.5 million. It was won by the late Lord Aldington in a celebrated case against Count Nikolai Tolstoy, great-nephew of the author of War and Peace.
He won his case in 1989 after Tolstoy claimed that he had the blood of "70,000 innocent men, women and children on his hands" but died 12 years later without ever collecting the record damages.
Sources close to Murat said a number of claims made in the British press were never substantiated and in at least one case - the allegation that there were pornographic images on his computer - have led to a media correction in Portugal. His family are also upset about a number of other reports by the British papers or on TV - including what they say was an utterly untrue suggestion that Murat has a glass eye and had removed it "as a party trick" while at school.
Last month Express Newspapers issued front-page apologies to Madeleine's parents and paid 550,000 to the Find Madeleine campaign.
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