Kate McCann has told friends she is still suspicious of Robert Murat after another person claimed he saw him the night her daughter Madeleine vanished.

Ex-pat Murat, 34, was the first official suspect in the case. But he claims he spent the whole evening at home with his mother Jenny, 71, who backs his alibi.

Now he has again been placed close to the McCann's holiday apartment on May 3.

The new sighting is from a British barrister, who is understood to have backed up last week's claims by sisters Jayne Jensen, 54, and Annie Wiltshire, 58.

They say Murat was smoking near the entrance of the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz 30 minutes after Kate reported her daughter missing. Jayne and Anne also claim they saw two suspicious men on the balcony of a ground floor apartment hours before the alarm was raised.

Last night, a friend of the McCanns said: "Kate has always felt there are questions concerning Murat that need to be answered. Gerry doesn't know whether he is involved but Kate has always been suspicious."

Another friend added: "The police have never said this is definitely the man. But they think he obviously has some questions to answer." Kate and Gerry, both 39, are also arguidos, or suspects - but they have always denied being involved in their daughter's disappearance.

Yesterday it emerged that private investigators searching for Madeleine have just returned from a trip to Morocco.

It is understood they were following new leads in a remote mountain area.

But details of the operation have been kept under wraps by Francisco Marco, the boss of the Metodo 3 detective agency.

Last night Kate and Gerry spent New Year's Eve quietly with their two-year-old twins, Sean and Amelie, at Gerry's parents home in Glasgow.