4:29pm UK, Saturday November 24, 2007

Portuguese police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann are not interested in the girlfriend of suspect Robert Murat, it has been claimed.

Michaela Walczuch had told police she was at a church meeting on the night Madeleine vanished - but Britain's national newspapers have attacked her claim.

Now, a friend of Mr Murat's family has said detectives have not contacted Miss Walczuch since the allegations against her emerged.

From the start of the investigation, witnesses have claimed they saw Ms Walczuch with Madeleine, first in Portugal two days after the little girl disappeared, and then in Morocco 41 days later.

The reports are being investigated by Spanish private detective agency Metodo 3, which has been hired by Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry McCann to help find their daughter.

Both Anglo-Portuguese ex-pat Mr Murat, 34, and German-born Miss Walczuch, 32, strenuously deny any involvement in the little girl's disappearance.

Family friend Tuck Price played down reports questioning Miss Walczuch's alibi for May 3, the night Madeleine went missing from Praia da Luz in the Algarve.

Miss Walczuch is said to have told police she was at a Jehovah's Witness meeting in nearby Lagos.

But Tiofilo Castelo, a member of the Algarve Regional Association of the Jehovah's Witnesses, said she had been "thrown out" of the church over 12 months ago.

Answering the claim, Mr Price insisted: "I know for sure she's been going to her meetings, and I know for sure the police haven't contacted her.

"If that was true, I'm sure the police would have been on to her."

:: A Spanish tourist said she saw Madeleine in Morocco on June 15 and another witness claims to have seen her in a car with a woman in Portugal on May 5.

It is understood that Metodo 3 have passed on their findings to the Portuguese authorities.