Daily Mail Headline 'Stories about the McCanns 'are ludicrous' Friends hit back over whispering campaign against Maddy's parents; says: 'The friends who were with Madeleine McCann's parents on the night she disappeared have tried to shake off a growing whispering campaign against them. They have spoken out after a Portuguese newspaper claimed police had 'intercepted' emails and phone calls between Kate and Gerry McCann and their friends. Diario de Noticias, a respected national daily, said 'police sources' insisted the intercepted 'messages' were key evidence. Other newspapers have already made a series of lurid and unsubstantiated claims about the McCanns.Yesterday, stung by such claims, their friend Rachael Oldfield, a 36-year- old London recruitment consultant, suggested the police could be 'leaking' confidential information to the Press. "I think there are some leaks coming from the police, but a lot of what I have read recently has been completely untrue," she said. "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."
Another of the party, Dr Fiona Payne, said: "You cannot attach any significance to what is being reported (in the Portuguese press)."
Mrs Oldfield, who is married to doctor Matthew Oldfield, said: "It is very hurtful and it is all rather ludicrous. But it is difficult to defend because the investigation and everything in it is confidential. We don't want to jeopardise the investigation in any way or Madeleine's life. We are a bit stuck, really."
Rachael Oldfield & Fiona Payne; a photo titled 'suspectsES' by the Daily Mail (click to enlarge and see the label the Daily Mail gave to this picture for yourself
