Madeleine: Sniffer dogs 'found scent of death' on one of the McCanns' friends

Last updated at 09:29am on 26th September 2007

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Friends of the McCanns faced fresh allegations yesterday after it was claimed that sniffer dogs had found the "scent of death" on one of them.

The same police dog which reacted to Mrs McCann's clothes - first causing suspicion to fall on her - was alleged to have smelled "death" on one of the friends who had dinner with the couple the night Madeleine vanished.

Police sources briefed a Portuguese newspaper that two police dogs from South Yorkshire, trained to detect corpses, human remains and microscopic traces of blood, had reacted to some items of clothing.

Family spokesman Clarence Mitchell denied categorically that any such procedure had happened.

The newspaper did not reveal which of the friends' clothing was meant to have triggered the reaction. Police in South Yorkshire refused to comment.

Detectives are writing to British police asking them to re-interview the seven friends the McCanns dined with on the night Madeleine vanished.

Madeleine's parents were dining in a tapas restaurant just yards from the apartment in the Mark Warner Resort in the Algarve, Portugal, when their daughter disappeared.

She had been sleeping inside the apartment with her brother and sister, twins Sean and Amelie.

According to reports from Portugal, all of those dining with the McCanns that night face further police questioning because their accounts of the night's events allegedly clashed.

Leicestershire police have consistently refused to comment on its role in the investigation and directed all questions to Portugal.

A spokeswoman said: "As the inquiry into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann is a Portuguese police investigation it is not appropriate for us to comment on it. Our role is to assist the Portuguese authorities, when and if they request it, with UK based inquiries.

"But because it is a Portuguese investigation, and because of the judicial system there, we are not able to disclose the nature of those inquires."

The seven friends - who, with the McCanns, make up the Tapas Nine - have been steadfast in their loyalty to Madeleine's family.

The group - most of them doctors and professionals - was made up of:

Dr Russell O'Brien, 36

A consultant in acute medicine at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, he knew Gerry McCann from Leicester.

He was on holiday with his partner Jane Tanner and their two young daughters.

At 9.25pm he left the restaurant for around 25 minutes to check on one of the girls, who was ill.

He has been subject to a vicious Portuguese press campaign alleging he was absent for over an hour when Madeleine went missing. He has threatened to sue, insisting: "These reports are completely untrue and extremely hurtful."

Jane Tanner, 37

Dr O'Brien's partner. She arrived late at the tapas bar after treating their sick daughter.

On the way, she passed the McCanns' apartment and saw a man carrying a child. Crucially, her description of the child's clothes matched Madeleine's pink pyjamas.

Dr Matthew Oldfield, 37

Dr Oldfield, an endocrinologist at Kingston Hospital in South-West London, went to check the McCann children at 9 25pm.

But he did not look inside the flat - simply listened from outside to ensure Madeleine and the twins were not crying.

Rachael Oldfield, 36

Dr Oldfield's wife, a former lawyer who is now a recruitment consultant.

She is one of four witnesses who claim to have seen the first suspect, British expat Robert Murat, near the McCanns' flat.

Last month she angrily dismissed reports that police had intercepted phone calls and emails between the McCanns and their friends which contradicted the group's earlier statements.

Mrs Oldfield accused Portuguese police of "throwing mud when we are not able to defend oursleves"

David Payne, 41

Mr Payne is a senior research fellow in cardiovascular sciences at Leicester University

He and his wife and mother-in-law joined the group at 8.55pm.

They are believed to have been the only ones using a baby monitor to check on their two children.

Mr Payne has said: "All these smears and rumours are overshadowing the important thing, which is to get Madeleine back."

Dr Fiona Payne, 34

Mr Payne's wife, she is understood to have told police she saw Mr Murat shortly after Madeleine vanished.

Dr Payne and her husband stayed on in the Algarve to support the McCanns. When the couple were made official suspects, she said: "It's an outrage - a preposterous accusation."

Dianne Webster

Dr Payne's mother. She has given no public interviews.

'Gerry is not Madeleine's real father': The Portuguese media's latest attack on the McCanns

Last updated at 01:03am on 12th September 2007

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In the latest of a series of increasingly personal smears against the McCanns, a Portuguese newspaper has claimed that Gerry McCann is not Madeleine's real father.

Sensationalist tabloid '24 horas' claimed that Portuguese police suspected the heart surgeon was not Madeleine's natural father.

With the front page headline, 'Police suspect Gerry is not Maddie's dad', the paper reported detectives were intending to use DNA samples to confirm their suspicions he was not the sperm donor behind the successful IVF treatment that led to her birth.

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Detectives trying to prove that Kate McCann killed her daughter have painted the 39-year-old doctor as a violent mother prone to "hysterical reactions" and losing control.

The allegations were leaked to Portuguese newspapers hours after Mrs McCann and her husband Gerry left the country under a cloud of suspicion about the disappearance of four-year-old Madeleine.

Quoting police sources, the papers alleged that Mrs McCann became "visibly out of control" under questioning by police, and that witnesses had described her as "violent" and "aggressive" towards her children.

It was claimed that she routinely put Madeleine and the two-year-old twins to bed in the family's holiday apartment "while Gerry played tennis and lay by the pool".

The reports also quoted witnesses who have given statements to police.

Pamela Fenn, who was in an apartment above the family on May 3 - the night Madeleine disappeared - is quoted as saying she believed Mrs McCann sometimes became violent and "out of control" in the room below.

She claimed that "the little girl's screams calling for her daddy were very audible".

Another witness is quoted as saying that Mrs McCann "seemed to have moments of aggressiveness towards her children" and that her husband, "though more absent, had more emotional control".

Mrs McCann is said to have strongly denied both these allegations in police interviews.

The damaging picture painted by Portuguese newspapers emerged as police sought to convince the public prosecutor that they have a strong enough case to charge Mrs McCann over the murder or accidental death of her daughter.

The McCanns have repeatedly insisted they are loving parents who had nothing to do with Madeleine's disappearance. They are convinced police are trying to frame them.

But the allegations, strongly denied by the family, risk poisoning public support for the couple and stopping donations to the "Find Madeleine" campaign they set up.

Portugal's secrecy laws prevent police from talking about the investigation, but the leaked material appears to contain specific information about interviews conducted with the McCanns last week.

It was claimed that Mrs McCann became "hysterical" at times during her 13 hours of interrogation and refused to reply to some of the questions.

It was alleged that she offered no explanation for why Madeleine's DNA appeared to have been found in a car the couple hired 25 days after she vanished.

Nor is she said to have given any satisfactory answer to whether she had slapped her daughter, or whether she sedated the children.

The Portuguese police are reported in the newspapers as having concluded that Madeleine was killed by accident.

They believe that her parents then hid her body in their car boot in the compartment for the spare wheel.

The four-year-old's blood was found under the carpet of their hired Renault Scenic in the place of the wheel, the daily Correi da Manha reported.

British detectives: Madeleine WAS killed in holiday apartment

 

They have become convinced the four-year-old will not be found alive.

Officers in Leicestershire have come to share the view of the Portuguese police after sniffer dogs detected 'the scent of death' in the Algarve holiday apartment from which she vanished.

The two springer spaniels, said to be capable of detecting blood and human remains, were used in the investigation in August.

One picked up a 'scent of death' on items ranging from mother Kate McCann's clothes to Madeleine's favourite soft toy Cuddle Cat.

This evidence, and the alleged discovery of specks of blood in the McCanns' Ocean Club apartment in Praia da Luz, convinced the Policia Judiciaria - Portugal's criminal investigation department - that Madeleine, from Rothley, Leicestershire, died there on 3 May.

It is now thought that officers in Leicestershire have also come round to believing the same theory.

Pain: Kate and Gerry McCann still believe Madeleine can be found alive

A legal source close to the Portuguese police said that evidence gathered by officers in Britain led to Gerry and Kate McCann being named as suspects.

He added that the inquiry, which initially focused on Madeleine being abducted, changed direction after Leicestershire police offered to help by taking sniffer dogs to the apartment.

"The British police came up with the evidence the Portuguese needed to make the McCanns suspects in Madeleine's disappearance," said the source.

"It was the British police's idea to have sniffer dogs search the apartment. That day marked the turn in the case."

A month later, on 7 September, the McCanns, both doctors, were declared official suspects. The source said: "If it wasn't for the involvement of the British police, the McCanns probably would not have been made suspects.

"The Portuguese police had their suspicions two weeks after Madeleine disappeared due to the discrepancies between witness statements.

"The friends, the McCanns and the employees at the Ocean Club had stories that just didn't match up.

"At that stage they couldn't do much with their suspicions. It was only when the British got involved that the inquiry began to move on quite quickly."

Carlos Anjos, president of the Judicial Police Inspectors Union, said Portuguese detectives have an 'excellent' working relationship with British police without 'a single misunderstanding'.

He added that despite all the resources at the McCanns' disposal, their campaign had so far produced 'nothing', as opposed to that of the police who have obtained the only credible evidence.

�?A former South African detective with a record of finding missing children was called in by Kate and Gerry McCann.

Danie Krugel pinpointed an area in Praia da Luz where he believed Madeleine had - at least - passed through.

He spent four days searching in July after they were bombarded with emails saying he should be called in.

Mr Krugel said: "I went there to find her alive and according to my test results she was in the area of Praia da Luz. She was not in Spain or Morocco."

As a result of his work, Portuguese police called in British officers to help, a source close to the McCanns said.

'Madeleine's gone, Madeleine's gone' - what Kate REALLY said the moment she disappeared

...and what really happened THAT night in Praia de Luz

Last updated at 12:14pm on 20th September 2007

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•Case against Gerry and Kate McCann in meltdown
�?McCanns were so distraught they couldn't have faked it'
�?British police bugging McCanns' phone calls and emails'

The exact words of Kate McCann in the moments after her daughter disappeared are revealed today for the first time.

Sources close to the McCanns said Madeleine's mother ran back to the tapas bar where the parents were dining shouting: "Madeleine's gone, Madeleine's gone."

Crucially, the new account is significantly different fromthe version given to Portuguese police who are understood to believe Mrs McCann yelled, "they've taken her, they've taken her" as she ran from the family apartment.

Detectives on the Algarve are understood to view this as suspicious because it indicated that Mrs McCann had already ruled out the possibility of Madeleine wandering off, and to regard as possible evidence that she was already engaged in a cover-up.

Witnesses have said, however, Mrs McCann reacted with such horror that they are convinced she could not have faked it.

They also insist that both the child's parents were so utterly distraught it would be impossible for them to have killed the three-year-old several hours earlier.

A source close to the family criticised Portuguese police for making the McCanns official suspects in the case - before speaking to the seven friends on holiday with the couple about whether the McCanns could have faked their distress so convincingly.

The source, who did not wish to be named, said today: "It is farcical that detectives could even make Kate and Gerry suspects without speaking to witnesses at the time. Throughout all of this the police have never come back and asked eyewitnesses whether they could be faking it.

"It's a farce. They were so distressed and distraught there is no way anybody could act like that. Even in a movie, nobody could fake it like that. Their suffering was completely real."

Investigations by the the Evening Standard newspaper have put together the most detailed account yet of events on the night Madeleine went missing from the apartment in Praia da Luz on 3 May.

According to the Standard, the McCanns had not locked the patio door when leaving Madeleine and her twin siblings Sean and Amelie asleep to eat at a tapas bar nearby.

Window shutters had been opened in Madeleine's bedroom, indicating another route through which an abductor may have entered the apartment.

A child spotted being carried away from the scene was not covered in a blanket as previously reported but was wearing pyjamas matching those worn by Madeleine.

The source said: "Kate and Gerry are completely innocent. I am certain Madeleine was abducted and could still be alive."

Mrs McCann's reaction on discovering Madeleine had vanished at 10pm was of utter despair.

Mrs McCann raced from the apartment to the tapas bar, screaming: "Madeleine's gone. Madeleine's gone."

Mr McCann also became distressed and the couple were sobbing and screaming. The source said: "Eyewitnesses are convinced there is absolutely no way they could have been faking it. It would be absolutely impossible."

The McCanns and their friends - known as the Tapas Nine - are then understood to have begun the search for the little girl.

The group - Matthew and Rachael Oldfield, David and Fiona Payne and her mother Dianne Webster, and Russell O'Brien and his partner Jane Tanner - were interviewed by police in the immediate aftermath of Madeleine's disappearance and again about a week later.

But none has ever been asked by the Policia Judiciaria, the police force investigating the case, if they believe Mr and Mrs McCann could have killed their daughter earlier in the evening and pretended they only discovered she had gone missing at 10pm.

The source described Mrs McCann as a brilliant mother, adding: "Kate was never hysterical with the kids. She is a great mother. She is really organised. It never got too much for her."

For the first time the events as they unfolded on the day Madeleine went missing have also been revealed.

The children in the party were dropped at the Mark Warner creche in the morning - as they were on every day of the week-long holiday - and picked up at midday.

It is understood the McCanns then took Madeleine and the twins for a picnic lunch and they spent time at the beach and at the pool of the Ocean Club.

At 5.30pm, Mr McCann took part in a social tennis event inside the complex with the other men in the group, all doctors who had first met while working in a hospital together in Leicester.

Meanwhile, the children in the group ate their supper at the Paraiso restaurant close to the beach at Praia da Luz with their parents. The McCanns and their children were not present.

Mr and Mrs McCann were next seen in the tapas bar, where the group dined each evening during the holiday.

They were first at the table, arriving at 8.40pm, and joined by the Oldfields at 8.45pm with the rest of the party following. Mr McCann made his first check on his children at 9.05pm and Mr Oldfield volunteered to go on behalf of the McCanns at 9.30pm.

He entered the apartment through the unlocked patio doors but rather than entering the children's bedroom listened for any noise at the door.

Mr Oldfield could see the twins asleep in their cots sideby-side but Madeleine's bed was out of sight. In fact, the McCanns and their friends believe that by 9.30pm, Madeleine had already been abducted.

A man carrying a child was spotted by Ms Tanner at about 9.15pm walking away from the apartment and in the direction of the villa where Robert Murat, the only other named suspect in the case, lives with his mother.

The source said the friends are convinced Ms Tanner saw Madeleine because she described the pyjamas the girl was wearing before being told the description of those worn by Madeleine.

The source said it was astonishing the McCanns had now been made suspects, based on forensic evidence taken from the apartment and from a hire car rented by the couple 25 days after Madeleine vanished.

The McCanns went on the offensive this week to demolish the forensic evidence, pointing out Madeleine's DNA could easily have got into the hire car via her sandals and other belongings which were transported when the family moved apartments.

Madeleine: The missing six hours that baffle police

Where was Kate between last photo and arrival at tapas bar?

Last updated at 12:11pm on 21st September 2007

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Police in the McCann investigation are focusing on a six-hour period before Madeleine disappeared which they believe holds the key to the case.

According to the Daily Mail's sister paper, the Evening Standard, senior Portuguese police source says they cannot confirm the whereabouts of Kate McCann and her daughter between 2.29pm - when the last photograph of the girl was taken - and 8.30pm when her mother arrived at a tapas bar for dinner.

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The only witness to Mrs McCann's whereabouts is her husband, police sources said. A senior Policia Judiciaria source said Mrs McCann's afternoon is at the centre of their inquiry. Madeleine and the two-year-old twins, Sean and Amelie, were dropped off that morning at the creche in the Ocean Club apartment complex as they were every day of the week-long holiday. They were picked up at midday and it is understood the McCanns, both named by Portuguese-police as suspects in their daughter's disappearance, then took Madeleine and the twins for a picnic lunch. They spent time at the beach before returning to their hotel.

Detectives say that the last picture of Madeleine was taken by her mother at 2.29pm that day as she played by the pool in the apartment complex. According to the Policia Judiciaria source, Mrs McCann has told officers she was at the pool all afternoon while her husband took part in a tennis event inside the complex with friends.

The source told the Standard: "Kate said she was at the pool side all afternoon but we are not satisfied with this.

"Until now we have no witnesses to confirm that. This is the main focus of our investigation at the moment. Where was Kate between the time she took the picture of Madeleine and the time she went to dinner with her husband in the tapas bar?

"This is a crucial six hours that as yet has no explanation. We now believe she could have gone missing during this period."

The McCanns and their friends - Matthew and Rachael Oldfield, David and Fiona Payne and her mother Dianne Webster, and Russell O'Brien and his partner Jane Tanner - dined at the tapas bar in the apartment complex each evening during the holiday.

On 3 May the McCanns were first at the table, arriving at 8.40pm. They were joined by the Oldfields at 8.45pm with the rest of the party following. Mr McCann made his first check on his children at 9.05pm and Mr Oldfield volunteered to go on behalf of the McCanns at 9.30pm. He entered the apartment through the unlocked patio doors but rather than entering the children's bedroom listened for any noise at the door.

Mrs McCann's was the next to check on the children at 10pm. It was then that she raised the alarm.

According to the Portuguese police source, none of the friends remember seeing Madeleine since midday that day and none could confirm that Mrs McCann was at the pool for most of the afternoon either.

A man carrying a child was spotted by Ms Tanner at about 9.15pm walking away from the apartment and in the direction of the villa where Robert Murat, the only other named suspect in the case, lives with his mother.

The McCanns are said to be convinced that Ms Tanner saw Madeleine because she described the pyjamas the girl was wearing before being told the description of those worn by Madeleine and they matched.

But the police source said he was unsure of the reliability of the statement. He said: "These are people who spent a lot of time with their friends yet no one saw Madeleine or Kate for much of that day.

"We are very doubtful that Madeleine disappeared when the McCanns were at dinner. It is highly likely she was gone at some point during those six hours we know nothing about. As far as we are concerned Gerry and Kate are suspects in this investigation."

Previous reports have suggested that the McCanns and their children were with the rest of the party at the Paradiso restaurant at 6pm close to the beach at Praia da Luz. But friends say the family had not joined them that day.

Mark Williams-Thomas, a former British detective who worked on the Sarah Payne murder inquiry, said: "The last person to see Madeleine is absolutely vital to this investigation.

"If the police are saying the last picture of Madeleine is the last time she was seen, then they have to establish what went on in the hours in between this and when she was reported missing. This could definitely be the focus of the inquiry."

He said that if Madeleine was abducted, he believes she would have been snatched after wandering out of the apartment. "I firmly believe she was not taken from the apartment," said Mr Williams-Thomas. "If this is an abduction, she must have woken up, wandered off looking for her parents and was kidnapped by someone who was presented with an easy opportunity to snatch a child."

We DON'T believe Madeleine is dead, Gerry McCann insists

Last updated at 00:37am on 18th October 2007

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The parents of Madeleine McCann do not believe their daughter is "probably" dead, despite reports saying they do, they have insisted.

Yesterday the McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell stated: "Kate and Gerry are realistic enough to know that there is a probability she is dead."

However later yesterday Gerry McCann insisted that while the couple are of course aware of the possibility, they still could not accept it.

"Contrary to some other reports Kate and I do NOT accept that Madeleine is 'probably' dead," Mr McCann wrote on his blog yesterday.

"We know it is a possibility, however the fact there is no evidence Madeleine has been seriously harmed gives us ongoing hope that she will be found alive."

Kate and Gerry McCann have always clung to the hope the four-year-old will be found alive, and have never conceded that - statistically - Madeleine was probably dead within hours of her disappearance from their Algarve holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on May 3.

Yesterday Mr Mitchell added: "They have not given up hope that she could still be alive. But human nature is that you always fear the worst and they need to know what has happened."

The couple will continue to campaign for their daughter's safe return, Mr Mitchell said, and an £80,000 poster campaign was launched yesterday to target remote villages in Southern Portugal and Spain.

Despite the widespread publicity surrounding her disappearance, Mr and Mrs McCann believe there are still some people who have not heard of her.

Portuguese police yesterday visited a reservoir known as the Barragem da Bravura, or Wilderness Reservoir, 15 miles from Praia da Luz.

The new head of the investigation, Paulo Rebelo, is said to feel the 2.5mile wide reservoir was not examined properly in May, when up to 300 officers searched for Madeleine.

A computer used by Gerry McCann has been seized by detectives who want to see which websites were visited after Madeleine disappeared, the Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manha said yesterday.

Friends of the McCanns said the computer was used only to store a database of journalists' numbers.

The last picture of Madeleine: Just eight hours later she was gone

By PAUL HARRIS and SAM GREENHILL - More by this author » Last updated at 16:40pm on 25th May 2007

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She must have been having so much fun.

Chuckling with delight, Madeleine McCann dangles her feet in a pool and poses for a holiday snapshot.

Less than eight hours after it was taken, Madeleine disappeared. So yesterday this became the last, poignant picture of the missing four-year-old - released by her grief-stricken parents in their desperate campaign to bring her home.

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It shows Madeleine with her father Gerry and two-year-old sister Amelie, sitting beside the pool in their Algarve holiday apartment complex. Her mother Kate is behind the camera with Amelie's twin brother Sean.

It could hardly have captured her character more perfectly - a cheeky little Miss in a pink summer dress and floppy hat, stealing the limelight as usual with that trademark smile.

That was at 2.29pm on May 3, a few days after the family checked in to an apartment in Praia da Luz and just nine days before her fourth birthday.

And last night, another picture of Madeleine was projected onto London's iconic Marble Arch to bring her plight to the attention of the city.

During the day of her disappearance they had all gone for a walk, played tennis, and taken some more snapshots for the family album before relaxing by the pool.

Some time between 9.10pm and 10pm, an abductor is assumed to have snatched her from her bed while her parents dined nearby.

Three weeks on, there has been not a single trace of her whereabouts, no breakthrough in the investigation, and no clear indication that she is even still alive.

In the evening her parents gave her a bath, took out her trendy hair bead and washed her hair. Then they tucked her up alongside Sean and Amelie before kissing them all goodnight.

Mr and Dr McCann - he is a consultant cardiologist, she a GP - remain convinced she is alive, and have vowed that they cannot even consider going home to Leicestershire until they find her.

But yesterday, for the first time during the remarkable campaign they are running in parallel with the police operation, they made known their frustration at the investigation's lack of progress.

The 38-year-old couple met Portuguese police chiefs to express their concern at the "apparent slowness" of the hunt.

A source close to the family said: "At every stage throughout this they have been feeding their own questions and concerns back to the investigating authorities through British police and in turn the Portuguese authorities.

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"While they remain content with the overall thrust of the investigation they do at times hope that their questions and concerns are addressed more quickly."

Yesterday the latest Portuguese initiative - a plea to the kidnapper from the Bishop of the Algarve - stalled almost immediately.

Bishop D. Manuel Neto Quintas appealed to Madeleine's abductor to phone him to arrange Madeleine's return - but he failed to supply a phone number.

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In other developments, new leads have emerged from more than 300 holidaymakers' photographs that have been sent in to an appeal for pictures that might reveal the abductor.

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Officers from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre had appealed to tourists who visited Praia da Luz in the two weeks prior to the kidnap to send in their holiday pictures.

Strangers in the background of pictures are being cross-referenced with an image of known paedophiles using facial recognition software.

A spokesman for CEOP would not comment on the detail of the new leads.

It also emerged that the McCanns have been offered the use of private jets to make trips around Europe in their continued campaign to find Madeleine.

Early discussions are under way with Warner Brothers cinemas to put posters in every cinema and to play an appeal video of Madeleine before every movie.

Madeline three weeks on: theories and false trails

Last updated at 10:57am on 25th May 2007

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Three weeks after Madeleine McCann went missing in Portugal the investigation remains mired in speculation and hearsay.

Dozens of theories surround the four-yearold's disappearance from the Mark Warner resort in Praia da Luz, but many of the basic facts about the night of 3 May have yet to be confirmed by Portuguese police.

In the absence of even the most basic information, journalists have been forced to piece together details of the police investigation. There are several theories.

Kidnapped to order

In the week after Madeleine went missing, the first theory in the Portuguese tabloids was that she had been kidnapped "por encomenda" - taken on the orders of a paedophile network.

Sightings around the world

Portuguese police have received reports of sightings of Madeleine from around the world.

Last Friday came reports of an alleged sighting of Madeleine by Marie Olli, a tourist holidaying in Marrakech. She said she saw the child with a scruffy man in his thirties at a petrol station.

The girl, wearing pyjamas similar to Madeleine's, was heard to say: "Can I see Mummy soon?" Portuguese police have flown to Morocco to investigate.

Stolen out of revenge

Police sources allegedly told reporters they believed Madeleine might have been taken by someone who wanted revenge on Kate or Gerry McCann. Local newspaper reports made veiled suggestions the couple were involved in a series of relationships that had left somebody wanting revenge on them.

Sleep walking

Many local residents in Praia da Luz believe Madeleine may have walked out of her ground-floor bedroom into the street, either because she was sleep walking or looking for her parents. Once outside they think she was either taken by a passerby, or more bizarrely, wandered a few hundred yards down the street to where roadworks were taking place. One theory is that she may have fallen into deep holes dug in the road. However detectives have now largely discounted the idea that Madeleine simply woke up and wandered into the streets. They say a girl of her age walking alone would probably have been spotted by English or Portuguese adults and taken home.

Of these theories, police believe that kidnap to order and abduction by a single or group of paedophiles is the most likely.

Officers believe she may have been smuggledout of the country within hours after her abduction and are placing increasing importance on sightings of her around the world, particularly the alleged sighting in Marrakech. Little credibility is given to the theory that Madeleine was kidnapped as an act of revenge.

A police source said: "The most likely theory is that she was taken by a single abductor who targeted her and had watched her for days. The other theories are all less likely."

Family friend 'may have witnessed' abduction of Madeleine

Last updated at 17:18pm on 26th May 2007

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�?Madeleine's parents may have threatened legal action to get description released

�?Police insist 'We are confident we will find her'

�?Hunt on for white man, 35-40 years old, 5ft 10ins tall

�?Mr McCann says they had an 'amicable and very constructive' meeting with police

�?He believes sighting of man is 'significant and relevant to Madeleine's abduction'

A friend of Madeleine McCann's parents may have seen her being carried away from her holiday apartment the night she vanished, it's been was revealed.

A "witness" reported seeing a man carrying "an object that could have been...a child" in the Algarve village of Praia Da Luz at 9.30pm on May 3 - while Madeleine's parents were finishing dinner nearby.

A source indicated that the sighting - the most striking so far in the case - was by a female member of the couple's party who has not been named.

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Policia Judiciaria (PJ) finally released a description of the man seen that night in the face of possible legal action by Madeleine's parents.

He was white, 35 to 40, of medium build and 5ft 10in, with hair left slightly longer around the neck, wearing a dark jacket, light beige trousers and dark shoes.

The information, likely to have been released early on as a matter of course in other countries, had to be sanctioned by the public prosecutor.

It followed an "amicable" meeting with senior Portuguese police and the McCanns believed to have taken place yesterday.

The McCanns welcomed the police's decision to release details of the suspect.

This afternoon, they emerged from their apartment - Mrs McCann still clutching Madeleine's pink cuddles - to make a statement to the waiting media.

Mr McCann said they had had an "amicable and very constructive" meeting with police.

"We very much welcome the decision of the police authorities to release details of a man seen by witnesses here in Praia Da Luz on Thursday, May 3, the night of Madeleine's disappearance.

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"The release of this important information followed an earlier meeting we had with senior police officers.

"We feel sure that this sighting of a man with what appeared to be a child in his arms is both significant and relevant to Madeleine's abduction."

He urged anyone who may have seen the suspect to come forward to police.

"Any information no matter how unimportant it might be could be vital in helping the Portuguese police to find our daughter.

"We wish for nothing more than to bring Madeleine home with us safe and well."

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The couple had discussions with British Ambassador John Buck and UK police at their apartment yesterday.

The PJ has been heavily criticised in the British media over the past three weeks for not releasing more details of suspicious sightings in the face of the country's strict "secret of justice" laws which forbid the disclosure of information about an investigation.

It is thought the PJ were given a description of the man within 24 hours of the abduction but have not released it for that reason.

The description - which tallies closely to details being circulated at the time but never publicised - sounds similar to the chief suspect in the case, Robert Murat. But when asked about this, Chief Inspector Olegario Sousa replied: "There are many people who fit this description."

Officers toured shops and bars in the village with a basic description in the days after Madeleine was snatched as well as one or more images of the man.

But facial features were scant and one man described an e-fit he was shown by plain clothes officers as like "an egg with hair".

The announcement was welcomed as an apparent "new development" in the case by the McCanns.

The McCanns are convinced that the figure seen being carried was Madeleine.

Mr and Mrs McCann, both 38, were having dinner at a tapas bar facing their holiday apartment when the abductor entered their apartment.

The description released is similar to that included in reports that a man was seen dragging a girl in a road towards the marina at nearby Lagos.

The marina was the focus of aquatic searches in the days after Madeleine's disappearance.

Today the McCanns gave their first interviews and spoke of their feelings of "guilt" at not being there when their daughter was taken.

But they defended themselves against accusations that they were irresponsible, outlining how they had an arrangement with other parents in their group to continually check on the children throughout the evening.

They compared the arrangement, eating across the pool within sight of the apartment, as like being in the back garden of a big house.

The police said they were still waiting to hear from some of the international agencies involved in trying to find Madeleine.

When asked about a sighting in Marrakech, Chief Inspector Sousa said nothing had been ruled out.

At the police press conference, Inspector Sousa said the description of the man was given by one witness involved in the case, but would not elaborate.

He said part of the reason the description had been issued was to try to rule out people as well as finding Madeleine's abductor.

He defended the time it had taken to release the description, saying it was down to the investigators leading the case as to when information was released.

When asked again why it was not released earlier, he replied: "Because we did not feel it was necessary at that time."

Police are also waiting for the results of forensic examinations which are continuing.

�?Messages for the McCanns can be sent to [email protected]

�?The official Find Madeleine website can be found at www.findmadeleine.com

�?The Crimestoppers number for those calling from Portugal is 0044 1883 731 336 or information can be passed direct to the Portuguese police on 00 351 282 405 400.

�?The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre and Virtual Global Taskforce appeal is at www.ceop.gov.uk and www.virtualglobaltaskforce.com.

Madeleine witnesses 'may have mistaken this friend of the McCanns for Murat' on night she disappeared

By VANESSA ALLEN - More by this author » Last updated at 08:10am on 8th January 2008

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Doubt was cast on the evidence of several key witnesses in the Madeleine McCann disappearance last night.

Those who said they saw suspect Robert Murat outside the family's holiday apartment on the night she vanished may have named the wrong man, it was revealed.

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Detectives believe the witnesses who said they saw the British expat could have confused him with a friend of Kate and Gerry McCann, David Payne, who was out searching for the missing three-year-old.

If true, the claim could force police into a rethink of their eight-month investigation.

Mr Murat, 34, has insisted he spent the night of May 3 at home in the villa he shares with his mother Jennifer, 72, less than 100 yards from the McCanns' holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal. His mother said he never left the house.

But a series of witnesses have given statements claiming to have seen him around the Ocean Club apartment complex in the hours after Mrs McCann, 39, raised the alarm.

They include three friends of the McCanns - Russell O'Brien, Fiona Payne and Rachael Oldfield - who later confronted Mr Murat at a police station after he was made a suspect and said he offered to help them search that night.

Mark Warner nanny Charlotte Pennington said she saw him hanging around outside the Ocean Club's reception at about 10pm.

British holidaymaker Jayne Jensen, an unnamed British barrister and two unidentified British tourists all claim to have seen him around the complex that night.

But none of them knew the 34-year-old property consultant before that night.

Police are examining the theory that they could have confused him with Mr Payne.

The medical researcher, who is 41, was searching around the complex that night and - in a street lit by orange streetlights - could easily have been mistaken for Mr Murat.

Mr Murat's lawyer Francisco Pagarete told the Daily Mail: "Robert has always said the witnesses were mistaken. He was not there that night."

A source close to the inquiry said: "The similarity between the two has rendered many witness accounts virtually worthless."

But he added: "What is baffling is that Mr Payne's wife and two of his friends are among those who claim to have seen Mr Murat outside the McCanns' apartment that night. You'd think a wife would recognise her own husband."

The Paynes were unavailable for comment. They are due to be reinterviewed by British police on behalf of their Portuguese counterparts within weeks.

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Detectives want to question all seven of the friends who were on holiday with the McCanns about alleged contradictions in their accounts of the events of May 3.

Mr and Mrs McCann's spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "We are confident the accounts of witnesses were given in good faith."

Mr Murat's girlfriend Michaela Walczuch was yesterday forced to deny claims she had been named as a police suspect in the case.

The Portuguese newspaper 24 Horas claimed the mother-of-one, 34, had been made an 'arguido', or formal suspect, alongside Mr Murat and the McCanns.

Lawyer Mr Pagarete insisted he had been misquoted by the tabloid when discussing her. Police refused to confirm or deny the report.

A second newspaper, Correio da Manha, claimed tests by the Forensic Science Service in Birmingham had proved DNA found in the McCanns' holiday apartment and hire car was Madeleine's.

Such a finding would support the Portuguese police theory that Madeleine died in an accident in her parents' care and that they faked her abduction. The McCanns deny any involvement in her disappearance.

An FSS spokesman said, however: "Tests are still being carried out. No final report has been submitted to the Portuguese authorities."

Madeleine: Gordon Brown 'snubs request for No 10 meeting with McCanns'

Last updated at 20:45pm on 10th December 2007

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The parents of missing Madeleine McCann have demanded a high-level meeting with Gordon Brown amid fears the Government has abandoned their case, it emerged today.

Kate and Gerry reportedly made a desperate plea to the PM to arrange a private summit with their legal team and wealthy benefactors two weeks ago.

But the request is said to have been turned down by Number 10 who will only offer the McCanns a low-level consular meeting.

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While Kate and Gerry, both 39, had no plans to attend the talks, their lawyers Kingsley Napley and millionaire supporters Brian Kennedy, Sir Richard Branson and Stephen Winyard are apparently keen to update the PM on the strength of their defence.

The couple's representatives, dubbed Team McCann, have also contacted the Foreign Office and the Home Office after growing concerns that the Government has turned its back on the family's plight.

After Madeleine's disappearance on May 3, Mr Brown pledged his support to the four-year-old's parents during a series of phone calls with Gerry.

But as soon as the pair were named "arguidos" - official suspects - by Portuguese police on September 7 all lines of communication were closed.

Critics of the McCanns have accused them of manipulating their high profile to gain Government "protection".

Last night a friend of the McCanns told the Sunday Express that Mr Brown had gone back on his promise to help them.

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He said: "The lawyers and their backers are keen to hold talks with a Cabinet minister so we can show them how much progress has been made.

"The request was made two weeks ago and so far all we have been offered is a meeting with the consulate.

"All we want to do is update them on our position.

"Kate and Gerry do not need protection because they have done nothing wrong."

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has also snubbed the family.

One reason Mr Brown may be concerened is that the McCanns could still be charged over their daughter's fate.

The Prime Minister was due to visit Portugal on Thursday to sign the EU Constitution but speculation is mounting that Foreign Secretary David Miliband may attend in his place.

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Mr Miliband, who first became involved with the McCann case in June, is another who has remained silent without officially withdrawing his support.

Kate and Gerry, of Rothlet Leicestershire, first appealed for his help in September claiming they feared that the "shocking injustice" would stop detectives finding out what happened to their daughter.

Mr Winyard, who owns the luxury Stobo Vastle spa in Peebleshire, Scotland, and pledged £100,000 to help the McCanns meet their legal costs, attacked the PM's lack of support.

He said: "This Government was elected to look after its citizens and it's a fundamental principle of our legal system that everyone is innocent until proven guilty.

"With that in mind I would strongly urge that Gordon Brown accede to our request."

A Downing Street spokesman said: "We don't comment on ongoing cases."

Madeleine: Brown quizzes Portuguese PM about bungled police inquiry

By VANESSA ALLEN and JAMES CHAPMAN - More by this author » Last updated at 10:44am on 19th October 2007

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Gordon Brown has raised concerns about the investigation into Madeleine McCann's disappearance with his Portuguese counterpart.

Mr Brown discussed the police inquiry with the premier Jose Socrates during private talks in Lisbon, where the pair are attending the EU summit.

Mr Brown said he wanted to be assured "that the police authorities are taking the actions that are necessary and there's proper cooperation between the British and Portuguese police".

The pair previously discussed the case in July, when Mr Socrates assured Mr Brown "everything possible" was being done to find the missing four-year-old.

Mr Brown's involvement in the case has sparked resentment in Portugal in the past.

One detective accused parents Gerry and Kate McCann of creating "constant interruptions and distractions" after it emerged they had been keeping him personally updated on developments over Madeleine, who went missing in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz on May 3.

The policeman said: "It is amazing to me that people in high positions are getting involved. I can't think of any case in Portugal where this has happened."

A source in the Portugese police admitted yesterday they have no evidence against the McCanns, who are still official suspects.

A high-ranking detective in the investigation told the Portuguese newspaper 24 Horas: "The truth is, nothing which allows us to make a definite accusation against the McCanns has yet emerged."

It also emerged yesterday that Mrs McCann is having haunting visions of Madeleine at night.

Her mother Susan Healey said: "She told me she was unable to sleep a couple of nights ago and I said, 'Did the twins wake you up?' She said, 'No, Madeleine came'."

Madeleine and the missing hour: how often did the McCanns check on their children?

As the hunt for Madeleine hits 100 days, emotions run high

By SUE REID - More by this author » Last updated at 16:31pm on 11th August 2007

Sitting beside a swimming pool in the Algarve on that May evening Gerry and Kate McCann were enjoying themselves. The tapas bar of the Mark Warner holiday resort in Praia da Luz was buzzing with holidaymakers and it was quiz night.

The McCanns were favourites to win the contest organised by the resort's aerobics teacher Najova Chekaya. After all, the two doctors had brains on their side. Around their table were seven friends from England, three of them also doctors and one a top medical research fellow.

The group of nine were holidaying in Portugal and wanted to have a good time. As one of the doctors, Matthew Oldfield, was to recall: "We drank. So what! We were on holiday."

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But 50 yards away on the other side of the swimming pool, the group's children were sleeping alone. In the bedroom of one ground floor apartment was Madeleine, the McCanns' three-year-old daughter.

Her twin brother and sister, Sean and Amelie, two, lay in cots either side of her. They had been tucked up at 7pm. Half an hour later the McCanns had joined their friends for dinner at the tapas bar.

What happened next has mystified the world.

At 10pm Kate McCann got up from the table to check on her children. She slipped in through the patio windows to find the twins safely asleep - and her daughter's bed empty.

In tears and calling out Madeleine's name, she ran back to her friends to tell them: "They've taken her, they've taken her."

Madeleine has not been seen in the 100 days since May 3. Last night Portuguese police said they were concentrating on what they call the "missing hour" before Mrs McCann found her daughter gone. They say it is possible that she was kidnapped after her father last checked her at 9.05pm and her mother's terrible discovery.

Meanwhile the campaign to keep the public aware of Madeleine's name goes on. It has involved her Roman Catholic parents visiting the Pope.

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And, on the instructions of JK Rowling, posters of Madeleine were distributed at British bookshops as they opened for the sale of the new Harry Potter book.

This week the donations from the public to a Madeleine fund, financing the PR campaign and global search for the little girl from Rothley in Leicestershire, was nudging £1 million.

More than 50 million people visited the Find Madeleine website in the 48 hours after its launch.

Nothing like this has ever been seen before, and probably never will again.

The campaign has been organised by the McCanns, both 38. Today they believe their daughter is still alive and was abducted by a stranger. Whether the motive was paedophilia, the sale of Madeleine for adoption or even the trade of her organs, they have no idea. Nor do they speculate.

As Mr McCann wrote on his website the other day: "The Portuguese police have assured us on numerous occasions that they are looking for Madeleine and not a corpse."

Yet this week attitudes towards the McCanns underwent a seismic shift, the questions growing more aggressive by the day. The scenario of a small girl being kidnapped without warning on a spring holiday in a family friendly resort is now the subject of lurid debate - particularly in Portugal.

Disturbing questions are being asked about the behaviour of the McCanns and their friends.

The catalyst was the discovery this week, by British police with sniffer dogs, of specks of blood on a wall in the family's apartment.

The blood is now being analysed in this country, raising unpalatable speculation that Madeleine was killed where she slept and was then carried off to the beach or bundled into a car boot.

The reluctance of Gerry and Kate McCann or their friends to speak publicly, or in any detail, about the minutiae of the evening has fuelled the controversy, although they insist it is illegal in Portugal to comment on any police investigation.

In another uncomfortable development the Portuguese press, including the respected newspaper Dairio de Noticias, has claimed that interviews given by the McCann group to police contain discrepancies. Their stories and the timings of their movements on the night do not tally.

Furthermore, emails and phone messages sent between the group - and intercepted by the PolÌcia Judiciaria and British detectives helping the inquiry - are reported to contain conversations that contradict earlier statements.

But the spotlight is equally falling on the seemingly woeful response of the Policia Judiciaria. They only arrived two hours after the alarm was raised. A British expert on child abduction who visited the resort a few days later said it the worst preserved crime scene he had ever witnessed.

Twenty people - including resort workers and other holidaymakers - are believed to have entered the McCanns' apartment after the disappearance. The patio windows at the rear, and the closest point to the tapas bar, were touched by searchers.

The patio had been left open by the McCanns in case of fire and, it appears, so that they could easily check the children.

But what of Madeleine's bedroom? It was situated next to the apartment's front door which is around the corner and a further 30 yards on, next to a road into the resort and a busy carpark.

Notably the bedroom, completely out of the sight of the tapas bar, had heavy, metal window shutters. These were also contaminated in the search.

Even her bedtime toy Cuddle Cat - which is now carried by Mrs McCann - was not isolated for forensic analysis.

Local newspapers and television have criticised the McCann group, who left their children alone for two and a half hours as they wined and dined.

One question being asked is why didn't the parents put their children in the evening creche which is open until 11.30pm? Why didn't they hire a babysitter, bookable at the Mark Warner reception desk?

In a further twist, locals now claim that Madeleine did not always settle well. One evening they allege she ran away into the paths between the apartments, hiding for half an hour when it was time for bed.

Whatever the truth, to begin to unravel the mystery one has to go back to the seemingly carefree days at the start of the holiday.

Gerry and Kate McCann and their friends are like-minded people, with children of similar ages. And they knew each other in the Midlands. Mr McCann is a consultant cardiologist at a Leicester's Glenfield Hospital and his wife is a GP.

Until recently Dr Oldfield worked at Leicester general hospital. David Payne is a senior research fellow in cardiovascular sciences at Leicester University and his wife, Fiona, is a doctor. Another of the holidaymakers, Dr Russell O'Brien, also worked at Leicester University before moving this summer.

Recently they all went to Mark Warner's in Greece where they had devised a plan of leaving their children to sleep while they had dinner nearby.

As Mr McCann explained: "The distance is so small, it was so close it was almost like having dinner in your garden. What we were doing was rigorous with multiple people checking at regular intervals."

When asked if Madeleine might have wandered out through the unlocked patio windows towards the swimming pool, or beyond to the beach, the McCanns dismiss it out of hand.

"We're absolutely certain. We double and treble-checked and have no doubt she was taken," said Mr McCann. Yet another scenario is now emerging in the local press. It is built on the recollections of other guests and workers at the resort.

The official story from the McCanns is this. Mr McCann said he checked on his three children at 9.05pm. He noticed that a door in the apartment which had been left shut was ajar.

He thought nothing of it but it may have indicated that a kidnapper was already there. But his daughter was fast asleep so he went back to the tapas bar.

Another of the group, Jane Tanner, says she took her turn 10 minutes later. She claimed later to police that she saw a dark-haired man of about 35 carrying a child as she walked back to the bar afterwards but thought nothing of it.

Soon after her return - at 9.45pm - Dr Oldfield did his round of the bedrooms. In a first statement to police, it is unclear if he actually went inside the McCann flat.

Indeed, one scenario is that many of the checks of the children were not visible, but involved listening at doors or even from outside the apartments.

However, in a second statement Dr Oldfield insists he did look in Madeleine's bedroom, believes he saw her there, and that there was light coming in through the windows as though the heavy shutters had been opened.

Again, he thought little of it until afterwards. Then, of course, it was Mrs McCann's turn. She found Madeleine gone.

Madeleine's aunt Trish Cameron recalled that she received a call later that night from her younger brother, Mr McCann, who told her: "I went back to check the children at nine o'clock. They were all sound asleep, windows shut, shutters shut."

Mrs Cameron related that when Mrs McCann went to the two apartment a little under an hour later: "The shutters had been jemmied open. They think someone must have come in the window and gone out of the front door with Madeleine."

But what is now perturbing Portuguese police is how could she be abducted when the McCann group were checking so often? Or have reports inadvertently exaggerated how vigilant the parents really were?

A worker at the tapas bar says that only a tall man, believed to be Russell O'Brien, got up from the table during the entire evening. Of course, this witness might be wrong. A busy barman could not have eyes on the McCann party for two and a half hours.

And what of Najova Chekaya, the aerobics teacher running the quiz? She was invited over to the McCann table by Mr McCann himself when the game ended at 9.30. She stayed for half an hour. She later claimed to friends that nobody left the table.

There is another conundrum too. It concerns the sighting by Jane Tanner of the man carrying a child. He was wearing beige trousers and smart black shoes. Her report is taken seriously by police.

Yet a British holidaymaker, Jeremy Wilkins, has given a deposition that does not support her evidence. He knew Mr McCann because he played tennis with him, and was walking his eight-month-old son in the night air when the drama unfolded.

He says that he met Mr McCann, who had come out of his apartment at 9.05pm, and had a word with him. Soon after that Jane Tanner would have crossed paths with Mr Wilkins and his baby.

Mr Wilkins says he saw no man carrying a child or Jane Tanner herself. "It was a very narrow path and I think it would have been almost impossible for anyone to walk by without me noticing," he said.

So today the questions remain. Was Madeleine kidnapped or killed? Or unwatched, did she simply walk out and get lost? How could there be a break in with a jemmy through metal shutters without waking the twins or alerting a passerby?

Someone, somewhere must know the answers.

Madeleine's parents forced to take twins out of creche to avoid 'upsetting' holidaymakers

Last updated at 17:33pm on 10th August 2007

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The parents of Madeleine McCann have been forced to stop taking their two-year-old twins to a local creche to avoid 'upsetting' other holidaymakers, they revealed today.

The anguished parents of missing Madeleine were dealt this latest blow after it was revealed that locals call them "those bloody McCanns."

Matters reached crisis point when Madeleine's mother Kate could not get out of the Mark Warner Ocean Club with twins Sean and Amelie, because of a media scrum.

The crush at the doors to the creche led to the British holiday company asking the McCanns to stay away.

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The couple have now withdrawn their children from the childcare facility.

Kate said helplessly: "We are trapped. What can we do?"

The couple are clearly hurt that their children have been effectively barred from the creche, but they, as always, have tried to be pragmatic.

Gerry, 39, said: "It has impacted on other holidaymakers."

"It is not considerate to other people's children and people were getting upset.

"They have paid a lot of money to come to a lovely resort with their children."

He went on: "Mark Warner has been incredibly supportive of us throughout but they have come under a bit of pressure and we agreed not to go for a while.

"They offered us alternative arrangements, but we haven't taken them up yet."

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The McCanns have been trying desperately hard to maintain a normal routine for their twins - and taking them to the creche each day was part of this.

The villa where the couple are staying with the twins, on the outskirts of the holiday resort of Praia da Luz, is now home to an encampment of Portugese photographers and TV crews.

Because of the "huge gaggle" of media outside the family's new accommodation there were concerns about photographers and film crews taking pictures of the twins and disturbing holidaymakers at the creche.

A spokesman for Mark Warner said: "The actual decision was made by the local manager and the McCanns that it would be best for both sides if they didn't use the creche until this intense focus moves away from them."

The 100th day since little Madeleine disappeared will be marked in Britain tomorrow by events, prayers and pledges of support for the Madeleine campaign from sportsmen, including Jonny Wilkinson, Frankie Dettori and Everton Football Club.

But in Praia da Luz, the McCanns will spend the day "quietly", only emerging to attend a special church service in the resort.

Madeleine disappeared on May 3 after Mr and Mrs McCann left their three children asleep in their apartment while they ate with friends at a nearby tapas restaurant.