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[This edited version of the report has been prepared by Dr Robert N Moles]

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Settlement of defamation action: this is the report of the settlement of the defamation action concerning the McCann family in respect of publications which have cast aspersions upon their inegrity

19 September 2007 BBC Northern Ireland reported “McCanns not meeting Omagh team”

It said that solicitors for the parents of Madeleine McCann have said they have no plans to meet lawyers who defended Omagh bomb suspect Sean Hoey. It was earlier reported they were to have talks about DNA testing. Belfast lawyer Kevin Winters said a meeting with solicitors Kingsley Napley would take place next week. However, a spokesperson for the McCann family said while they had been contacted they had "no plans to meet them at the present time".

Mr Winters had said the McCann legal team contacted his firm and a meeting with one of his staff, Peter Corrigan, the instructing solicitor in the Omagh defence team, had been scheduled for Belfast next week. Mr Corrigan told the Irish News his work would involve "exposing the unreliability of LCN DNA". It followed allegations that the four-year-old's DNA was found in the boot of Gerry and Kate McCann's hire car weeks after their daughter disappeared.

LCN (Low Copy Number) DNA is believed to have been the test used by Portuguese police to deduce that Madeleine had been in the car after her disappearance from an apartment in the Praia da Luz resort. It magnifies potential forensic evidence, however, it is argued that this process can result in possible distortion. A total of 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins, lost their lives when a Real IRA bomb exploded in Omagh, County Tyrone, on 15 August 1998.

Sean Hoey, 37, from Jonesborough, County Armagh, is the only person to be charged in connection with the atrocity. He denies a total of 56 charges, including 29 counts of murder.

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