Gerry and Kate McCann were involved in a potentially embarrassing dispute yesterday over their association with lawyers representing a man accused of the 1998 Omagh bombing.

Lawyers for Sean Hoey, who is accused of murdering 29 people in the attack, were standing by their claims that they had been contacted by the McCanns and were assisting them in the complex area of DNA evidence.

However, the McCanns issued a categorical denial of a relationship with the Belfast firm of solicitors, Kevin R. Winters. The denial came as sources close to the firm said that information was already being conveyed to the McCanns’ solicitors.

The Real IRA claimed to have carried out the Omagh bombing, the worst terrorist atrocity of the Troubles. A key element of the prosecution case against Mr Hoey is the use of a forensic science test called Low Copy Number (LCN) DNA. The judge in the case, which ended in January, has yet to deliver his verdict.

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Mr and Mrs McCann became suspects in the disappearance of their daughter after Madeleine’s DNA was allegedly found in the boot of a hire car that they used weeks after her disappearance.

A spokesman for the couple categorically denied the involvement of Mr Hoey’s solicitors, who have become experts in LCN DNA. He said that rather than the McCanns’ legal team contacting the Belfast lawyers, it was the other way round.

“Along with a number of other legal companies we have been contacted by this firm. They contacted us,” the spokesman insisted. “The suggestion that they are working with us is untrue. No meeting has been arranged for next week.”

He was responding to an exclusive report in The Irish News that quoted Peter Corrigan, a Winters solicitor, as saying that he had been contacted by the McCanns’ lawyers, Kingsley Napley. Mr Corrigan told The Irish News: “We have been contacted by the McCanns’ solicitors who want to make use of the experience that we gained challenging LCN DNA in the Omagh trial. We will be working closely with the McCanns’ legal team and assisting them in all aspects of exposing the unreliability of LCN DNA.”

The firm’s senior partner, Kevin Winters, later said that a meeting with Kingsley Napley would take place in Belfast next week. Mr Winters said: “I can confirm that we were approached to assist them in the specific area of DNA.”

LCN DNA is a highly sensitive testing procedure that magnifies material that cannot be identified by a standard test. Opponents say that LCN DNA tests are unreliable because the magnification carries a risk of distortion.

Mr Hoey, 37, from Jonesborough, South Armagh, is in custody awaiting a verdict. He denies all 58 charges he faces, including 29 of murder.

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