Oliver star accepts Mail damages

Mark Lester (r) starred in the 1968 musical Oliver

Former child actor Mark Lester - famous for his title role in the film Oliver -has accepted substantial libel damages from the Daily Mail newspaper.

In March the paper made allegations he assaulted his ex-wife and allowed his three-year-old son to sleep in the same bedroom as pop star Michael Jackson.

Mr Lester's solicitor told London's High Court he was "deeply hurt and upset by the article".

A solicitor for the Mail offered an apology on behalf of the newspaper.

'Immense distress'

"I agree with everything that Mr Price has said and offer the defendant's apologies to the claimant," Lindsay Hodgkinson said.

David Price, who represented Mr Lester in court, told Mr Justice Eady that the newspaper's allegations were "untrue".

He said: "The claimant has never assaulted his ex-wife. The claimant is a friend of Michael Jackson but at no time has his son or any of his children slept in the same bedroom as the star."

The lawyer said the article written about Mr Lester, who is now an osteopath who runs his own clinic in Cheltenham, was "extremely damaging to his reputation both personally and professionally and which also caused immense distress to his children".

Mr Price added: "He was not prepared to allow it to remain unchallenged and therefore brought this claim for libel.

He added that Mr Lester "now accepts that he has achieved all that he can by bringing these proceedings and feels suitably vindicated".

The defendant, Associated Newspapers Ltd, publisher of the Daily Mail, agreed to pay substantial damages along with legal costs.

The sum was not disclosed in court.