THE friends known as the “Tapas Seven” who were on holiday with Kate and Gerry McCann when daughter Madeleine vanished have accepted £375,000 (€482,000) libel damages from Express Newspapers.

Seven friends who were on holiday with Kate and Gerry McCann when their daughter Madeleine vanished are to receive a “substantial” libel payout from a newspaper group, a source said today.

The parents of Madeleine McCann have met the seven friends they dined with on the day their daughter disappeared, their spokesman said today.