A woman leading a leaflet campaign about Madeleine McCann has left the girl’s parents distraught. The couple spent yesterday with lawyers and may call in police after Debbie Butler visited the road where they live in Rothley, Leicestershire, to deliver highly inflammatory leaflets to neighbours suggesting that Madeleine was not abducted.
“Angry and upset” Kate and Gerry McCann are consulting their lawyers about how to react to last week’s extraordinary late-night leaflet drop which involved 10 people.As well as discussing an action for libel, the McCanns want to know if there are grounds to pursue a harassment action and are considering calling in police.
Although single mother-of-two Ms Butler, 45, decided not to post the leaflet through the couple’s letterbox, a copy was sent to Kate’s aunt and uncle, Brian and Janet Kennedy, who live just a mile away in the same village.
A source close to the couple said yesterday: “Kate and Gerry are very upset and angry over these despicable lies. They feel they are being persecuted. This time the group has gone too far. They are now considering legal action over the leaflets. It is a clear case of harassment, indirectly if not directly. It must now become a police matter. Brian Kennedy thought it was outrageous and immediately contacted Kate. He had lots of calls from confused villagers who had received leaflets, asking what was going on. It caused pain, upset and confusion.”
