The friends known as the Tapas Seven, who were on holiday with Kate and Gerry McCann when daughter Madeleine vanished, have accepted £375,000 libel damages from Express Newspapers.

The damages - which will be donated to the Find Madeleine Fund - relate to articles in the Daily Express, Sunday Express and the Daily Star between July and December last year.

Solicitor-Advocate Adam Tudor told Mr Justice Eady at London’s High Court that the offending stories suggested that at least some of the seven - particularly Dr Russell O’Brien - had been identified as potential suspects by the Portuguese authorities, and also suggested that the friends had covered up the true facts and misled the authorities.

Solicitor Keith Mathieson, for Express Newspapers, apologised to Jane Tanner, Dr O’Brien, Fiona Payne, David Payne, Matthew Oldfield, Rachael Oldfield and Dianne Webster, and accepted that the allegations were wholly untrue.

In a joint statement read outside court by Fiona Payne, the friends said: “The abduction of Madeleine McCann, the daughter of our friends, on May 3, 2007, changed all our lives in an instant. But for no one more so than Madeleine.

“The defamatory stories written about us were not only extremely damaging on a personal level, but we strongly feel were detrimental to the search for Madeleine. This aspect has been particularly heartbreaking to witness.”

She added: “Although we are very pleased with today’s result, it changes little when Madeleine’s plight remains ongoing - she is still missing and the abductor is still free.

“Our only aim is to see her safely recovered and reunited with the family who so adore her.

“All the damages received today are being paid directly into the Find Madeleine Fund to continue the ongoing search and investigation into her disappearance.

“We believe that Madeleine is still alive and can be found. We ask anyone who has any information, however small, to come forward, and we thank wholeheartedly all those who have already done so.”

The damages payout comes in the aftermath of similar settlements to Kate and Gerry McCann and Robert Murat, a local man whose reputation was also ruled to have been damaged.

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