"Can we pay you a small amount to give us material for another set of spreads about Madeleine this weekend?".

600 bags of sand? A drop in the ocean considering the stress the tabs put this man under.

I was surprised at the ruling. Not because I think he didn't deserve it - I have no idea whether he was involved or not - but because he is still one of the official suspects and so, theoretically, could still be arrested and charged. I'd have thought that the court would have waited until the Portugese police had dismissed any chance of his involvement.

you know-I once sued the News Of The World 25 years ago for libel when they mistook for someone with the exact same name who made porno movies. ( I was working on a film project)

The NoTW caved in early and offered me 3000 pounds plus cost which I snapped up ( enough then to buy a brand new Mini which I did) and printed a retraction the next week and apologised in the High Court ( I loved that bit).

I was a bit upset though as I thought the journo may get sacked as he had basically printed a press release I'd sent out, but added the offending part-but when I rang him he couldn't have been less concerned.

"It's all built into the budget" he said-"this happens about once a week".

So much for accuracy way back then !

Each paper that printed the sordid Untrue stories about Murat made around Half A Million in sales that day.

Therefore