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Original Source:
EXPRESS:
07 JANUARY 2008 |
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Tuesday January 8,2008
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BLOOD found in the McCanns’ hire car and holiday flat DID belong to missing
Madeleine, it was claimed yesterday.
It reflects detectives’ belief that she is dead and her parents Kate and Gerry
disposed of her body.
New results sent to Portugal
in the last few days show the blood samples could only belong to Madeleine, it
was claimed.
The McCanns have always insisted there were innocent explanations for the
traces found behind the sofa at the Ocean Club apartment in Praia da Luz and in
the boot of the Renault Scenic they hired there 25 days after Madeleine
vanished on May 3. They claim the DNA could be linked to her siblings,
two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie.
But the respected Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manha reported yesterday:
“The definitive result of the tests leave no doubts for the Policia Judiciaria.
The blood found in the McCanns’ car is that of Madeleine as well as those
samples detected in the flat.”
Detectives in Portugal asked
British scientists to carry out new tests after initial ones by the Forensic
Science Service laboratory in Birmingham
proved inconclusive.
They are believed to be using a new technique called low copy number analysis,
which allows them to find a genetic fingerprint from a tiny sample.
The samples from the flat and the hire car were said to be damaged and of low
quality, but police sources now claim the latest results are definitive.
Portuguese detectives plan to travel to Britain in the coming weeks to
reinterview the McCanns and the friends they dined with at a tapas restaurant
on the night Madeleine vanished, aged three.
Yesterday Dr Russell O’Brien and his partner Jane Tanner were named as the two
friends reported last year to have told police they wanted to change their
account of that evening.
Ms Tanner, 37, from Exeter,
says she saw a mystery man carrying a child away from the flat at 9.15pm on the
night Madeleine vanished.
Police were said to believe Dr O’Brien, 36, wanted to change his statement to
claim he also saw the man, newspaper 24 Horas reported.
But staff at the restaurant say Ms Tanner was at the table throughout the meal
and only left after Kate came running in shouting “They’ve taken her!”, the
tabloid reported.
Dr O’Brien and Ms Tanner have denied contacting police to change their stories
and sources close to the McCanns support that position.
The McCanns were made formal suspects after sniffer dogs allegedly detected the
“scent of death” in the flat and car, and on clothes belonging to Kate.
Further tests found microscopic blood traces in the flat and on lining in the
boot of the car.
Portuguese police believe Madeleine died in an accident and that Kate and Gerry
conspired with their friends to dispose of the body.
Police sources claim the couple could be charged with manslaughter as well as
hiding a body and wasting police time. Kate and Gerry McCann, both 39 and from
Rothley, Leics, deny involvement in their daughter’s disappearance.
They have had independent DNA tests on the car which they say revealed no trace
of Madeleine.
Last night their spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: “These reports are very
distressing for Kate and Gerry, they are depressed that again wild rumour and
speculation is being presented as fact. We wish Portuguese police would just
get on with their investigation, come over to England and carry out the
interviews with Kate and Gerry and their friends.
All those interviews will prove, yet again, that Kate and Gerry have nothing to
hide.
“As for the supposed DNA testing, we cannot comment on yet more unsubstantiated
rampant speculation in the Portuguese press.
“It is ridiculous to suggest that Madeleine’s blood was in the hire car because
she was never in it. It was hired more than 20 days after she went missing,
which means it was impossible for her to have ever been in it.
Kate and Gerry were in no way involved in her death. Nor were they involved in
disposing of her body.
To suggest otherwise is ridiculous. This report is flying in the face of all
other articles which reported that the DNA and forensic tests were
inconclusive.
“If there had been anything found I would have thought there would have been
more urgent activity on the behalf of the Portuguese police than there has
been.
“We have been waiting months now for them to come to England to carry out their
re-interviewing. Anything the police feel may give them cause for concern can
be wholly and innocently explained.
“But until we actually see the official FSS report we have no idea what it
contains, and I suggest the Portuguese press don’t either.”
A friend of the McCanns added: “They were in no way involved in her
disappearance, reports like this just add to their anguish. We would also point
out that low copy DNA is under review by police forces in this country
following the outcome of the Omagh bombing trial.” |
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http://www.crimeshots.com/forums/showpost.php?p=37995&postcount=3
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