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[This edited version of the report has been prepared by Dr Robert N Moles]

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Settlement of defamation action: this is the report of the settlement of the defamation action concerning the McCann family in respect of publications which have cast aspersions upon their inegrity

On 11 October 2007 the Sydney Daily Telegraph reported “Paedophile hunt for Maddie”.

It said that police are investigating secret child pornography rings and websites for photos of missing British girl Madeleine McCann as investigators focus on whether paedophiles snatched her. The Daily Mail in London reports that Portugese police, working with British police, are examining files found on 150 computers taken from 80 suspects in raids across the country which smashed a major paedophile ring. Though Operation Predator was not formally linked to the Madeleine inquiry, officers will alert detectives searching for the four-year-old if pictures which could be her are found.

Sources said the suspects had accessed the images through filesharing programmes.

Experts at the Child Exploitation and Online Protection unit in London are already using state-of-the-art facial recognition software to scan computer porn for Madeleine, the Mail reported. It said the Portuguese raids involved more than 300 officers in the country's biggest-ever operation of its kind.

Four-year-old Madeleine disappeared from a Portugese resort complex on May 3. Her parents have been named formal suspects but police have struggled to make a breakthrough in the inquiry. Madeline vanished while she slept in the room of a hotel complex in Praia da Luz with her younger twins. Their parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, dined at a restaurant nearby. The parents were named formal suspects on September 7 and have since returned to Britain from Portugal. According to the McCann family, Portuguese police suspect the mother may have accidentally killed Madeleine. The couple have strongly denied any involvement.

Portuguese police on Monday named a new chief investigator, Paulo Rebelo, who has made his name crasking paedophile rings. The former head Goncalo Amaral was fired last week for having publicly accused British colleagues of impartiality. Portugal's national police director, Alipio Ribeiro, said today that investigators were still awaiting the complete results of forensic analyses taken as part of apartment. Ribeiro said after a meeting with Rebelo that the results from a British laboratory were expected soon.

Portuguese media said the analyses were from the apartment where Madeleine had been sleeping and a hire car that the McCanns used after the girl's disappearance.

"All possibilities are still on the table until the conclusion of the inquiry," Ribeiro said.

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