According to some sources they will pay "substantial" damages to Madeleine McCann's parents for a series of articles alleging that they killed their daughter and covered up her death.

Newspapers published rare front-page apologies and said there was no proof to support the allegations against Kate and Gerry McCann.

The tabloids will pay a "very substantial", but undisclosed, sum to a fund set up to help find the girl who went missing while on holiday in Portugal last May.

The apologies will be repeated at a hearing at the High Court in London on Wednesday when the case is formally settled.

The McCanns hired the London media law firm Carter-Ruck earlier this month to sue for libel. The damages could be as high as 550,000 pounds, according to a Sky News report.

Madeleine McCann disappeared shortly before her fourth birthday while on a family holiday in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz, prompting a huge police investigation and blanket media coverage.

They hired private investigators to help find their daughter after police named them as suspects in September.

The investigation dominated newspaper front pages and TV bulletins for months, with many stories questioning the role of the girl's parents in her disappearance.

A spokeswoman for the McCann family said she could make no comment before the High Court hearing.

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