Ms Esther McVey said: "The McCanns very much know and are aware of how the money had come together. They know it's from pensioners and kids in schools and they want it spent as carefully as possible. Because we're a not-for-profit limited company they are very much aware that we abide by the best practice charity laws."
Statement from Esther McVey:
Madeleine's Fund was set up to: Find Madeleine; support the family and bring the abductor or abductors to justice; and, subject to that, help other missing children.
With the sudden, dramatic, and unexpected turn of events at the weekend, the directors had to consider whether legal defence costs could be paid by the fund.
The board has taken advice from Bates Wells & Braithwaite London LLP and Christopher McCall QC.
The board has been advised that payment of Gerry and Kate's legal defence costs would be legally permissable subject to conditions about repayment in the event of a guilty conviction.
The directors of the fund discussed this today.
The 2 family directors, Brian Kennedy and John McCann, withdrew from the meeting when the decision was made.
I chaired that meeting.
The fund directors realise there is not only a legal answer but recognise too the spirit which underlies the generous donations to Madeleine's Fund, which it's the directors responsibility to steer.
For this reason, the fund directors have decided not to pay for Kate and Gerry's legal defence costs.
How long ago those days seem now when there was a moral dimension to how the fund money was used.
Of course that’s before the parents became directors.