St George Illawarra Dragons lock forward Jack de Belin has settled his defamation case with The Daily Telegraph.
The settlement should bring to an end legal proceedings for de Belin, who spent more than two years out of the NRL after being accused of sexual assault, a charge which was never found guilty despite two trials.
De Belin, who maintained his innocence throughout the course of two trials, couldn't be proven guilty by two juries, who both returned hung verdicts. One charge was acquitted, while the remainder was dropped by prosecutors.
With the case not heading to a third trial, de Belin was able to return to the NRL after being stopped from playing under the competition's no-fault stand-down rule.
According to a Sydney Morning Herald report on Wednesday, the Telegraph will run a clarification stating that it “did not intend to convey that Jack de Belin was guilty of sexual assault and withdraws any suggestion to that effect”.
It's understood the Federal Court have ticked off on the clarification to be run after de Belin's defamation barrister Sue Chrysanthou said that a successful settlement conference had been held.
Both parties will fund their own legal costs, which is different to what de Belin's lawyers were seeking last year when the case was first lodged, which included damages and legal costs.
The case related to a story from February 21, 2019 in the The Telegraph headlined "Rub Out the Grubs: League Immortald draws line in sand on shame."
The article is no longer available online.
De Belin has made a strong return to the NRL since his no-fault stand down, playing every game bar one for the Dragons and has averaged 109 metres per game, made 11 tackle busts and defended excellently.
