`Sun' apology for Christie

Former Olympic champion sprinter Linford Christie yesterday accepted substantial undisclosed libel damages over a newspaper's claim that he had failed to pay maintenance for his children.

The Sun ran a front-page story in August last year claiming that Christie's 10-year-old twins and 16-year-old son were forced to live on state benefits, and published subsequent criticism of the athlete. News Group Newspapers Ltd apologised for the publication and accepted that Mr Christie had made - and continued to make - substantial payments for the children.