Maddy, the plot thickens.

quote:

GLASGOW DAILY RECORD: “POLICE FLYING IN TO QUIZ TAPAS 7”
The Sangria 7. It’s the Tapas 9.

Detective Superintendent Stuart Prior, who heads the British arm of the probe, is likely to lead the interviews. Police chief Paulo Rebelo, the man in charge of the investigation, is also likely to make the high-profile trip to Britain.

Detectives want to clear up any “inconsistencies” in the group’s stories about what happened the night Madeleine went missing.

Says McCanns’ spokesman Clarence Mitchell:

“Kate and Gerry and their friends see this as an important chance to help the police. The friends are more than happy to co-operate as are Kate and Gerry although, in this case, the couple will not be interviewed. We hope that the police will realise there is no evidence to link Kate and Gerry with Madeleine’s disappearance in any way and that they will be rapidly eliminated from the inquiry.”

THE GUARDIAN: “Tapas Seven in new McCann interviews”

The group - three couples, Matthew and Rachael Oldfield, Fiona and David Payne, Russell O’Brien and Jane Tanner, plus Dianne Webster, Ms Payne’s mother - have vociferously defended the McCanns against suggestions that they might have been involved in their daughter’s disappearance.

MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS: “Driven to succeed”

Meeting Edward Smethurst. Getting to know the lawyers:

He is also a highly-respected lawyer who works as legal director at entrepreneur Brian Kennedy’s Latium Group. Mr Kennedy is the main backer of Kate and Gerry McCann in the fight to find their daughter Madeleine. As the family’s legal co-ordinator, Edward played a pivotal role in securing £550,000 in libel damages from Express Newspapers. He also directs the legal teams in the UK and runs a team of private investigators searching for Madeleine.

Edward says: “My role is to oversee the teams. I am not a libel lawyer and left that to the team from Carter-Ruck who secured a huge settlement as well as an unprecedented front page apology after the newspapers printed highly defamatory articles about Gerry and Kate McCann. I am also on the board of the Madeleine Fund - No Stone Unturned. It is an extremely high profile case and every effort is being made to find Madeleine.”