"Tapas Seven" granted libel damages over McCann allegations

Oct 16, 2008, 10:09 GMT

London - A group of British doctors who were dining out with Kate and Gerry McCann when their daughter Madeleine disappeared from a holiday apartment in Portugal were Thursday granted 375,000 pounds (646,000 dollars) in libel damages by tabloid newspapers in Britain.

The group, known as the 'Tapas Seven,' won the substantial damages in a High Court ruling published Thursday from the Express Newspaper Group, which printed front-page apologies on two of their tabloids, the Daily Express and the Daily Star.

Madeleine, then 3, vanished from an apartment in Praia da Luz on the Algarve on May 3, 2007, and no trace of her has been found.

In March, Express Newspapers paid 550,000 pounds in damages to the McCanns after alleging that the couple were responsible for the death of their daughter in a series of articles.

In July, four newspaper groups agreed a libel settlement worth at least 800,000 pounds with Robert Murat, a British man who had - like the McCanns - been named an official suspect in the case.

The apology from Express Newspapers read: 'In articles published between July and December last year we suggested that the holiday companions of Kate and Gerry McCann might have covered up the true facts concerning Madeleine McCann's disappearance and/or misled the authorities investigating her disappearance.

'We also reported speculation that one member of the group, Dr Russell O'Brien, was suspected of involvement with Madeleine's abduction.

'We now accept that these suggestions should never have been made and were completely untrue.'

The seven are couples Jane Tanner and Russell O'Brien, Rachael and Matthew Oldfield, Fiona and David Payne, and Fiona Payne's mother, Dianne Webster.

In a joint statement, the friends said outside court that they felt 'strongly' that the 'defamatory stories were detrimental to the search for Madeleine.'

The money will be donated to a fund set up to search for Madeleine.