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Madeleine McCann disappeared five years ago |
SCOTLAND YARD detectives are poised to interview the so-called Tapas
Seven as their inquiry into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann steps
up a gear.
The friends of Kate and Gerry McCann, who accompanied them on their
holiday to Portugal almost five years ago, are expecting interview
requests as soon as officers feel they could assist the investigation.
So far, the Yard’s Maddie Squad has been concentrating on analysing
every scrap of evidence in the case from files supplied by
Leicestershire police, Portuguese detectives and Metodo 3, the
Barcelona-based private investigators hired by the McCanns.
Officers have flown to Portugal three times and visited Spain twice.
With much of the analysis over, Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood
wants to put his team of three detective chief inspectors, five
detective sergeants and 19 detective constables to good use.
They are being supported by six civilian staff and three officers from
the specialist murder review group, bringing the total number on the
team to 37.
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"We are
not at the stage of speaking to individuals yet. We are
laying the groundwork"
A Yard spokesman |
By April the cost of the inquiry will be £1.9million but it is thought
that figure could double with the “investigative review” going into next
year.
After nine months of information gathering, officers are checking
statements from key witnesses.
They include the Tapas Seven, so called because they were eating at a
tapas bar with Kate and Gerry at the time Madeleine disappeared.
In some cases the Yard officers have asked for documents to be
retranslated from Portuguese to English so that they are absolutely
sure of what was said and meant.
One theory they are examining is that if someone abducted Madeleine they
could have had a copy of the key for the holiday apartment at the Ocean
Club in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz.
The Sunday Express has learned that the Tapas Seven “fully expect” to be
asked to go over the statements they made to Portuguese officers shortly
after Madeleine vanished on May 3, 2007.
They were also interviewed by Leicestershire detectives, with Portuguese
officers in attendance, when they arrived home.
The most significant witness is mother-of-two Jane Tanner, partner of
doctor Russell O’Brien, who said she saw a man carrying a child
resembling Madeleine some time after 9pm.
Another key witness is Matthew Oldfield, who went to the apartment to
check on Madeleine and twins Sean and Amelie, who celebrated their
seventh birthdays last week.
Mr Oldfield saw the twins in their cot but did not push the door open
wide enough to see Madeleine, although he was happy all was well.
All the Tapas Seven fully support the Yard’s review of the case and hope
it will provide a breakthrough.
Other members of the group include Mr Oldfield’s wife Rachael, David and
Fiona Payne and her mother Dianne Webster.
A Yard spokesman declined to say who would be interviewed and when. “We
are not going into that level of details,” he said. “We are not at the
stage of speaking to individuals yet. We are laying the groundwork.”
The McCanns’ spokesman Clarence Mitchell said they and their friends
would do everything to assist attempts to discover what happened to
Madeleine. |
