Mystery £1m rescues Kevin Maxwell

BUSINESS failure Kevin Maxwell has paid off a £1m debt to escape a humiliating bankruptcy. But where the youngest son of the late disgraced tycoon Robert Maxwell found the money is a mystery.

He has a history of financial disasters and now runs ailing companies including investment firm Meynard Freres, which lost £230,000 in the last financial year.

But at Oxford County Court yesterday a Gibraltan-based firm, Global Investments, withdrew a petition to bankrupt Maxwell. It told District Judge Michael Payne that the debt had been paid to the 'satisfaction of the creditors'.

Maxwell did not appear at the two-minute hearing and a spokesman for Meynard Freres declined to comment on where the cash had come from.

Maxwell later expressed relief at the news. He said: 'I always maintained that this morning's hearing was procedural, and so it was.'

Solicitor Neville Catton, acting for Global, said: 'Our comment is no comment.'

Maxwell, 45, is believed to have a share in some profitable companies based in the British Virgin Islands, and in April this year he set up two new UK-based firms, Alitan and Quote Ranger Services, which are yet to file any financial reports. But it is not believed takings from any of these companies would have been enough to pay the debt.

Maxwell was regarded as the UK's biggest bankrupt in 1992, following the collapse of his late father's media empire with debts of more than £400m.

He was discharged in 1995 but since then his business dealings have been littered with problems.

His last major business venture, telecoms firm Telemonde which was listed on America's Nasdaq sahre market, filed for administration in 2002 with debts of £105m.

Despite over a decade of financial disasters, Maxwell still enjoys a lavish lifestyle and is often seen dining at some of London's most exclusive restaurants including Claridge's and Locanda Locatelli.

He lives in a £ 2.9m Thames-side mansion which, in a recent effort to raise cash, he rented out as a location for the long-running ITV series Midsomer Murders.