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Four months
after Gerry and Kate McCann won apologies and a £550,000
libel pay out from four newspapers for "grotesque and
grossly defamatory" articles concerning the disappearance of
their daughter, Madeleine, seven friends of the couple have
employed the same lawyers to act against at least one
national newspaper.
The Carter
Ruck libel firm is advising the so-called "Tapas Seven"
group who were with the McCanns on the evening of
Madeleine's disappearance in May 2007 in the Portuguese
resort of Praia da Luz. Matthew Oldfield, Rachel Oldfield,
Russell O'Brien, Jane Tanner, David Payne, Fiona Payne and
Diane Webster are in talks with the Carter Ruck partner Adam
Tudor, with action expected within weeks.
Mr Tudor,
who acted for the McCanns, yesterday commented: "I can
confirm I and my firm are advising the seven friends." He
declined to elaborate or specify which newspaper they were
considering suing.
At the
centre of possible action would be suggestions that the
friends kept a "pact of silence" in their dealings with
police, and that they refused to take part in a
reconstruction of the night Madeleine disappeared.
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