The group of nine adults took turns to check on their children, who were sleeping in their hotel rooms approximately 55 metres away.

 
On the night that Madeleine McCann disappeared, her frantic parents were supported by seven friends(Image: PA)

While on holiday in Praia da Luz, Portugal, Kate and Gerry McCann were dining with friends at the Ocean Club resort’s tapas restaurant on the night of May 3 2007

The group of nine adults took turns to check on their children, who were sleeping in their hotel rooms approximately 55 metres away, throughout the evening. As they enjoyed their dinner in the open-air eatery – just as they had done for the previous three nights – they were oblivious to the dreadful events unfolding across the pool.

At 10pm, Kate went to check on her and Gerry’s three young children, two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie, and three-year-old Madeleine. To her dismay, Madeleine, whom she’d read a bedtime story to just hours earlier, was missing, and the window was wide open.

In the ensuing days, the disappearance of Madeleine would ignite a public frenzy not witnessed since the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. However, for Kate and Gerry’s friends, known as The Tapas Seven, the reality behind the headlines was a vastly different experience.

Members of the group now find themselves embroiled in another distressing development in the still-unsolved case, as the trial of alleged Madeleine impersonator Julia Wandelt continues.

Polish national Wandelt and Karen Spragg from Cardiff are facing charges of stalking the McCann family, with disturbing details surfacing at Leicester Crown Court this week. The court heard allegations that the duo waited outside the McCann’s residence, startling Kate upon her return home by demanding a DNA test and attempting to block her entry before pounding on the door.

Wandelt is accused of bombarding Gerry, who is originally from Glasgow, and Kate with letters, phone calls, voicemails, and WhatsApp messages, as well as sending Instagram messages to Amelie and Sean, purporting to be their missing sister Madeleine. It has been alleged that Wandelt “phoned over 60 times in a day” to Kate, who is set to testify.

In addition to allegedly harassing the McCanns, Wandelt is also said to have contacted David Payne, one of the friends present when Madeleine disappeared. Both Wandelt and Spragg deny the accusations.

Jane Tanner – married to Russell O’Brien

Jane’s ‘Tanner Sighting’ was initially considered crucial evidence(Image: PA)

Initially, Jane’s witness testimony, known as the Tanner Sighting, was thought to provide vital evidence. The mother-of-two reported seeing a man carrying a child away from the McCann’s flat at 9.15pm, a mere 45 minutes before Kate raised the alarm.

According to marketing executive Jane, who had been 36 when Madeleine vanished, she encountered Gerry McCann in conversation with another holidaymaker as he returned to the restaurant following his 9.05pm check on the children. Yet neither gentleman could remember spotting Jane.

Jane claimed the youngster she witnessed had been dressed in floral-patterned pyjama bottoms, and was being held by a white, dark-haired man who didn’t seem like a tourist. Though initially considered a crucial lead, this account was subsequently dismissed after a British father stepped forward to verify that this sighting was actually him carrying his daughter back from the evening crèche.

In 2007, Jane became the first member of the Tapas Seven to break her silence during a BBC Panorama interview, expressing her “absolute horror” at the possibility that she might have rescued Madeleine. Facing potential legal action under Portuguese privacy legislation, Jane revealed: “I have not spoken before because the Portuguese police told us not to talk about the case at all. From Day One we have done everything we can to help them with the investigation.

“I’m talking now because I’m being called a liar and a fantasist. I know what I saw. I think it’s important that people know what I saw because I believe Madeleine was abducted.

“If people are not taking that seriously, there could be people out there that see her somewhere, could have evidence to give and think ‘I’m not going to give that because she wasn’t abducted’. And that is the scariest thing out of this – that people wouldn’t come forward because they think we’re lying, which is rubbish.”

Meanwhile, one of Jane’s friends revealed: “It’s true to say she is haunted by that thought and goes over and over it every day. She thinks to herself, ‘If only I had stopped him’ and ‘If only I had seen his face’.”

Dr Russell O’Brien – wed to Jane Tanner

Russell spoke out following reports in Portuguese newspapers that alleged that he went missing for an hour and a half that awful night(Image: PA)

Between 9.30pm and 10.15pm, the fellow doctor left the group to tend to daughter Evie, who had been sick. He and Jane had alternated eating their meal hastily, ensuring they could attend to their unwell child.

It was as Russell came back to the table for his steak that Kate burst in, crying out to Gerry that Madeleine had vanished. Alongside Fiona Payne and Rachael Oldfield, Russell informed police that he had spotted British-Portuguese property adviser Robert Murat at the holiday resort on the evening of the disappearance.

Murat became the inquiry’s first arguido after officers learned he had been posing numerous questions about the case, though this formal suspect status was dropped the subsequent year when investigators discovered no evidence linking Murat to the probe. As revealed by The Sun in 2008, Russell recounted to the police an unsettling discussion the group had just hours before Maddie’s disappearance.

He recalled: “We then had a conversation about the ludicrous pressure on parents that they can’t take photos of their children.

“The other aspect of the conversation, which is doubly haunting, was that we said, ‘You’re far more likely to get clobbered by your uncle or your neighbour than some random stranger’. Since this happened ten or 11 hours before Madeleine was abducted, it seemed a very uncomfortable coincidence.”

Russell found himself compelled to respond following allegations in Portuguese newspapers suggesting he vanished for an hour and a half at the same time as Madeleine. Although not directly named, the paper provided identifying details that indicated who was being referred to, as previously reported by The New Statesman.

In retaliation, he and Jane released the following statement: “These reports in the Portuguese press are completely untrue and extremely hurtful. We have spoken to the police today, and have been assured that our status as witnesses has not changed.

“We would like to request that the privacy of our family and our police testimony are respected by the media. We just hope that the police’s considerable efforts to find Madeleine are successful.”

This statement was backed by Portuguese police chief inspector Olegario Sousa, who declared: “Do you think that if we had the name of the person who committed this crime, we would be waiting to arrest them?”.

Dr Matthew Oldfield – married to Rachael Oldfield

The group had been staying at the Ocean Club hotel complex(Image: Tim Merry/Staff Photographer)

Consultant endocrinologist Matthew, who had previously worked alongside Gerry at the same Leicester hospital, revealed that he’d carried out a check on the McCann children at 9.30pm, but explained that he hadn’t actually laid eyes on Madeleine as he remained outside the bedroom door, and would have needed to peer around it to spot her bed.

He told Portuguese authorities that he departed the holiday flat after catching sight of the twins slumbering in their cots, content that everything was peaceful. Upon his return to the dining table, Matthew confirmed that all the youngsters were asleep. Just minutes afterwards, Gerry made his own trip to check on them.

Based on a witness statement provided by Matthew, in the company of inspector Patricia D. , “there was nothing unusual and he knows of nothing special happening”.

The statement continued by recording that Matthew testified “that the tourist complex was quiet and that nothing unusual happened there. That during the day the children were under the supervision of the respective mini-club staff.

“That Madeleine is the daughter of both Gerry and Kate. That he doesn’t know if Madeleine was suffering from any illness or if she was taking medication. That Madeleine is very lively, obedient, communicative and extrovert. Madeleine’s parents are both very friendly, communicative, happy and sensible.

“That the couple have an excellent relationship with their children, not making any difference in the treatment of each. That the three children were very much wanted by the couple, all three being the result of, ‘In Vitro’, fertilisation. The interviewee thinks that it is a kidnapping with the intention to demand a ransom from the parents, because these are people who are very comfortable financially.”

Rachael Oldfield – married to Matthew Oldfield

Rachael spoke out against ‘very hurtful and rather ludicrous’ allegations(PA)

Recruitment adviser Rachael was the person who told Jane Tanner that Madeleine had vanished, and subsequently informed officers she’d seen Robert Murat outside flat 5A.

In August 2007, Rachael hit back at claims made in Portuguese tabloid Diario de Noticias, which alleged that authorities had intercepted emails and phone calls between the McCanns and their mates in recent weeks which “prove” that Madeleine had been killed inside the flat. Mother-of-one Rachael branded the allegations as “very hurtful and rather ludicrous”, voicing her exasperation on behalf of the group amidst rampant speculation.

Rachael said: “I think there are some leaks coming from the police but a lot of what I have read recently has been completely untrue. Whether a journalist has had a bit of information and made the rest up, or the police are feeding some truth or untruths, I just don’t know.”

She went on: “They are throwing mud at us and we are not able to defend ourselves. It does not help to find Madeleine. We just have to hope the investigation progresses to a point where something concrete comes out of it.”

Dr David Payne – wed to Dr Fiona Payne

David was one of the last people to see Madeleine alive(Image: PA)

Apart from her mum and dad, Leicester University academic David was the final person to see Madeleine alive. Around 6:30pm, whilst Gerry was playing tennis, he’d popped in on her, Kate and the twin toddlers, later describing his impression of “a family who’d had such a fantastic time”.

He recalled that the three youngsters had been wearing their nightwear and “looked immaculate… just like angels, they all looked so happy and well looked after and content”.

In 2008, David told British officers that Kate had initially informed the group, “she’s gone” following her horrific discovery. According to David’s account, Kate subsequently declared, “they’ve taken her, they’ve taken her”.

David has now been mentioned in this recent trial as having been approached by alleged stalker Wandelt.

Dr Fiona Payne, who is married to Dr David Payne

Fiona has been a source of ‘wonderful support’ to Kate(Image: PA)

She informed the police that she had seen Murat. Fiona and her husband David had brought their own high-spec baby monitor from home and set it up at the restaurant so they could listen for any sounds if their children stirred.

Fiona later recounted to British police about the “hysterical” state Kate was in when she returned to the table. In a 2008 police interview, Fiona remembered: “[Kate] was hysterical, it upsets me very much to even think about how she was,”.

“She was so terrified, absolutely inconsolable, she was rampaging round… the room, she’s up and down, pacing, kicking walls, just on, for most part, just imagining where or what might be happening to Madeleine and angry at herself and then for having left her, not being there and just, she was shouting a lot, I can’t, ‘We’ve, we’ve let her down Gerry, we’ve let her down, we weren’t there for her’.”

It’s understood that Fiona has been a significant source of support for the McCanns. In May 2023, Fiona gave a touching speech at a vigil held to mark the 16th anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance, reciting Emily Dickinson’s classic poem, Hope is the Thing With Feathers, before embracing Kate.

The Mail Online reports that Kate has previously expressed her gratitude for her loyal friend Fiona, stating: “She has remained such a wonderful support. Her support is very important to me.”

Dianne Webster – mother of Fiona Payne and grandmother of Lily and Scarlet

Dianne suspected that Sean and Amelie had been drugged(Image: PA)

Grandmother Dianne informed UK police that she suspected twins Sean and Amelie had been drugged, expressing surprise at their continued sleep amidst the night’s turmoil. In a 2008 police interview, Dianne recalled Gerry being “absolutely distraught” upon everyone’s arrival at the flat. She recollected: “I’ve never heard a man make the noises he made, and Kate, Kate was just… you just can’t put into words how they were. I remember I went through into the room where… Madeleine was sleeping and she said ‘she’s been taken’ because she said that the shutters and that had been open, the window open.

“The twins were still asleep in the cot and I, with all the noise going on I don’t know how they slept through it which makes me think there was, they must have been drugged with something.

“In October 2007, London’s Evening Standard reported that hair samples from Sean and Amelie showed no traces of sedatives, corroborating the McCanns’ assertion that they hadn’t administered sleeping pills to their three children on the night of Madeleine’s disappearance.

An insider told the newspaper: “It would be logical for tests to be carried out on the twins to show they have never been given sedatives. It would be right to say those tests show no evidence of sedatives in their systems.

“It backs up Kate and Gerry’s claims they have never sedated the children and explains why they are so certain they can prove the allegation is just another police smear.”