Kevin Maxwell escapes bankruptcy

Kevin Maxwell was given 45 days to pay the debt in June

A petition for bankruptcy against the son of the late media tycoon Robert Maxwell has been rejected, after a court heard he had settled his debt.

Kevin Maxwell, 45, from Moulsford, Oxfordshire, was given 45 days to pay a reported £1m to Global Investments Ltd at Oxford County Court in June.

He did not appear at the two-minute hearing before District Judge Michael Payne at the same court on Thursday.

Mr Maxwell was first declared bankrupt in 1992, with debts of £400m.

That bankruptcy was discharged in 1995.

Global Investments Ltd first petitioned to have Mr Maxwell declared bankrupt in June, but the judge rejected that and instead gave him 45 days to pay.

Neither party would disclose the exact size of the debt, although it was reported to be £1m.

Maxwell empire

Mr Maxwell sat on the board of Maxwell Communications Corporation (MCC), before his father drowned near Tenerife in 1991.

After Robert Maxwell's death, £460m was found missing from the MCC pension fund.

Kevin Maxwell and his older brother Ian were investigated over an alleged conspiracy to defraud the fund, but both were cleared.

However, a Department of Trade and Industry inquiry later found Kevin Maxwell bore "heavy responsibility" for the collapse of the Maxwell empire.