Police observe as ‘Tapas Seven’ quizzed

PORTUGUESE detectives arrived in Britiain to sit in on interviews with the so-called Tapas Seven.

The group met Leicestershire police officers ahead of interviews with friends of Kate and Gerry McCann, expected to start today.

The team of Portuguese detectives are due to observe interviews carried out by officers from Leicestershire Constabulary with friends of the McCanns who were dining with them in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz last year when the McCanns’ daughter Madeleine disappeared.

The team will not actually question the group themselves.

A spokeswoman for Leicestershire Constabulary said the group would be interviewed as witnesses and are free to leave at any time.

The McCanns, from Rothley, Leicestershire, will not be questioned in relation to the disappearance of Madeleine.

Their spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said the couple welcomed the interviews and were happy to be reinterviewed, but a request had not been made by detectives.