Hamiltons win 'rape slur' payout

Publicist Max Clifford today backed down in his feud with Neil and Christine Hamilton - but still could not bring himself to say sorry.

Mr Clifford was forced into paying undisclosed libel damages and the Hamiltons' legal costs in the long running row over false rape allegations against the couple by Nadine Milroy-Sloan.

An estimate of £100,000 has been bandied around as the cost of the legal war, but Mr Hamilton derided that figure as "a wild under-estimation" and spoke triumphantly of his rival's " humble pie" payout with "plenty of noughts on the end".

Outside court he said: "We are happy, we got what we wanted - a full retraction of the original allegations and an acceptance that he should not have said what he said.

"It is a total, abject apology ... it is the first time according to Clifford that he has ever lost a libel case."

When it was pointed out that Mr Clifford had not actually apologised, Mr Hamilton scoffed: "It would not have been worth the paper it was written on."

The couple refused to disclose the amount of the payout but Mrs Hamilton joked that they had "hungry lawyers to feed" and what they had received "would not buy them breakfast".

Milroy-Sloan claimed she had been raped in May 2001. She named the Hamiltons as being involved and went to Mr Clifford hoping to achieve a wide circulation for her allegations through his skill and expertise.

The Hamiltons were humiliated as police took them away for questioning in front of the cameras of TV presenter Louis Theroux.

The chagrin for the former Tory MP and government minister came in the wake of bankruptcy from his failed libel action over brown enveloped "backhanders" from Harrods boss Mohamed Fayed.

However, not only were the rape allegations false, Milroy-Sloan was also jailed for three years for perverting the course of justice.

The Hamiltons sued Mr Clifford, alleging he had libelled and slandered one or other of them 25 times in comments to newspaper reporters in August 2001 and on GMTV. Today at the High Court, their lawyer Howard Pinkerfield read a statement from Mr Clifford acknowledging that he knew his comments "could be taken to mean" that the rape allegations were true.

"It was never my intention to suggest this as I had no direct knowledge whatsoever of the alleged events," Mr Clifford's statement read.

It continued: "I wish to make it clear that there was no truth in the allegations made by Milroy-Sloan and I wish to entirely withdraw my remarks and comments which could be taken to mean otherwise.

"I acknowledge that my remarks could be interpreted in a way that is both highly offensive to Neil and Christine Hamilton and damaging to their reputations."