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Matthew Mellon - Apology

Staff ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 10 Feb 2006 17:45 GMT

In our news story published on 2 February 2006 entitled "Millionaire charged over hacking affair" we reported that Matthew Mellon, the well-known member of the Mellon family and successful businessman, had been arrested and charged in connection with allegations of phone tapping and illegal access to NHS systems and private medical records for the purpose of blackmailing famous individuals over controversial medical records.

We accept that our report was entirely untrue and defamatory and that Matthew Mellon has not been arrested or charged in relation to such offences at all.

The offending article was removed from our Web site shortly after Mr Mellon’s lawyers Schillings contacted us about this matter. We apologise unreservedly to Matthew Mellon and his family for any distress and embarrassment caused by our article. We have agreed to pay Mr Mellon a substantial sum in damages and pay his legal costs.