“The directors of Madeleine’s Fund welcome the settlement of Gerry and Kate’s complaint against Express Newspapers, in particular the front page apologies for the grossly defamatory stories that were consistently published in recent months and the agreement reached on substantial damages.

It has been a great additional burden for Gerry and Kate to be repeatedly vilified in sections of the press. Such coverage was also a diversion for our campaign to find Madeleine.

We hope that such public apologies will not only bring some comfort to Gerry and Kate, but that they will re-emphasise the need for a renewed focus on the campaign.

The £550,000 damages from Express Newspapers will now be used fully within the stated spirit and aims of Madeleine’s Fund.

The purpose of the Fund is to support Gerry and Kate specifically in the search for Madeleine and her abductor(s).

The Fund will, therefore, continue to work to gather information to assist them in achieving their aim of bringing Madeleine home. We would, once again, urge any member of the public who still feels they may have useful information to come forward with it without delay.”

We are pleased that Express Newspapers have today admitted the utter falsity of the numerous grotesque and grossly defamatory allegations that their titles published about us on a sustained basis over many months.

The exceptional publication of these apologies, together with today’s statement of full apology in open Court before Mr Justice Eady, was the only just and proper response by Express Newspapers following our complaint. We also wish to place on record our thanks to Adam Tudor, from Carter Ruck. Today’s result simply could not have been achieved without him

Express Newspapers, rightly acknowledge that we are innocent of all allegations that we may have been involved in Madeleine’s abduction and WE would like to reiterate that there is absolutely no evidence that Madeleine is dead or has been seriously harmed.

We embarked on this course of action reluctantly, indeed with a heavy heart, as we did not wish the pursuit of it to become a distraction from our sole aim – finding Madeleine. Indeed, as long ago as last autumn our lawyers approached Express Newspapers and urged them to show greater restraint in their reporting – requests which went utterly unheeded.

The distress all this has caused members of our wider family, at a time of great emotional turmoil for them, was also a major factor in our action. Their pain over the loss of Madeleine has been compounded by having to witness the irresponsible and libellous reporting that we have successfully challenged today.

As a part of our settlement, Express Newspapers have also agreed to donate £550,000 to the Fund that was established to help find Madeleine. We feel it is entirely appropriate that the search for Madeleine will now benefit directly out of the wrongs committed against us as her parents.

We hope that the Portuguese authorities lift our arguido status in the very near future so that everyone can focus on finding our beautiful little girl, Madeleine.”

Responding to the reported comments of Alipio Ribeiro, the National Director of the Portuguese Policia Judiciaria (PJ), in an interview recorded for Radio Renascenca due to be broadcast on Sunday Feb 3rd 2008, Clarence Mitchell said:

“Kate and Gerry McCann very much welcome Alipio Ribeiro’s reported comments in which he accepts that Portuguese police officers under his authority acted too hastily in making the McCanns official suspects. Now that the National Director of the Policia Judiciaria apparently accepts that they should not have been made arguido, it follows that there is no case for Kate and Gerry to answer. As I have consistently said, Kate and Gerry are entirely innocent of any involvement in the disappearance of Madeleine and now, in the light of Mr Ribeiro’s remarks, we urge the Portuguese judicial authorities to act humanely by removing their arguido status as swiftly as possible. Not only does it continue to damage their reputation in the eyes of the world, it is also directly hampering the search for Madeleine, as many people who may have vital information have possibly not been coming forward because they have wrongly suspected the McCanns. If the Portuguese police, under Mr Ribeiro, now do the only proper thing by eliminating Kate and Gerry from their enquiry, they and our own investigators can work together rapidly and effectively to find Madeleine and to bring those responsible for her abduction to justice.”

The newly designed web site for the Help to Find Madeleine Campaign has been launched today.

The purpose of the new site is to focus attention on the primary goal which remains to Find Madeleine McCann.

The fund have been working hard to design the site to make it more user friendly and easier to keep up to date. It is hoped that the new site will allow people to find what they are looking for quickly. The new site still allows Gerry to update his blog, but it also has the additional facility to allow authorised persons to issue News Items without the need for the Web team to write the code for the pages.