THE Tapas Seven REFUSED to go back to Praia da Luz for a kidnapping reconstruction because they were afraid Portuguese police were trying to TRAP them.

 

The group of friends who were dining with the McCanns when Maddie was snatched feared they TOO would be made suspects if they returned, we can reveal.

 

Cops wanted the group to go back to the Algarve this May' a whole YEAR after the youngster's disappearance' but bizarrely told them they should come WITHOUT their children.

 

Case files also reveal that Portuguese detectives REFUSED to assure the group that they would not be arrested on arrival.

 

In an email to police chief Paulo Rebelo, one of the seven, Rachel Oldfield, said: 'We still feel very uncertain of the motives in organising such a re-enactment. How is it going to help move the investigation in a positive direction' We cannot help but feel the re-interviews and re-enactment are too little too late.

 

'We feel we would be making ourselves and our families extremely vulnerable by returning to Portugal.'

 

Russell O'Brien and Jane Tanner say it was reassuring to get a letter from Portuguese cops saying there are 'no suspicions over us regarding the commission of any criminal acts'.

 

But then Jane adds: 'However, we heard something similar in the weeks before Kate and Gerry were made arguidos!'

 

The group said they would agree to return to Portugal if police 'publicly dispelled damaging lies churned out by the Portuguese press'. The cops would not agree to such a statement so the reconstruction was shelved.