Kate Upset Over Reconstruction Invite

Updated:02:44, Wednesday April 09, 2008

Kate McCann is said to be "upset" over a request that she and her husband Gerry take part in a reconstruction of the night their daughter Madeleine went missing.

Gerry and Kate McCann

Sky's crime correspondent Martin Brunt reported that Portuguese authorities were requesting that the McCanns go back to Praia da Luz for a "Crimewatch-style" event in mid-May.

But it is feared Mrs McCann, whose four-year-old daughter vanished on May 3 last year, would find such a trip too traumatic, Brunt said.

A friend of the couple said: "Kate is upset. There's been no sense of concern for her feelings or the anguish it will cause her.

"On an emotional level she is not sure she can go through with it."

The friend added: "The family will consider it. If it's felt that there's a chance of it helping to find Madeleine then, of course, they will do it.

"But given it is a year on, you have to wonder about the value of it."

Both McCanns are still official suspects in the Portuguese police probe into the girl's disappearance and Kate has not been back to the resort since returning to England in September.

Mr Mitchell said: "(The McCanns) and their friends want to resolve this - they want to make it clear to the police that there is no evidence to implicate Kate and Gerry and that they should be eliminated from the inquiry.

"The family will do whatever is necessary to assist the police and this particular (reconstruction) proposal is just that."

But he made it clear the couple were still undecided on whether to return to the resort.

The news comes as British officers began questioning members of the Tapas Seven.

Three Portuguese detectives sat in on the interviews with friends Jane Tanner and her partner Russell O'Brien, at Leicestershire Constabulary's headquarters in Enderby.

A source close to Ms Tanner said that she and her partner left Leicestershire's constabulary headquarters shortly after Portuguese detectives at about 9pm.

The source said: "We understand that everything is fine and it was a good opportunity to get their point of view across. Everything was fine and they felt it went well.

"There was nothing unexpected and it was a good opportunity to get their point of view over strongly."\