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Portuguese police have allegedly asked
UK forensics experts to examine evidence
to see if Madeleine McCann might have
previously been drugged, as they turn
their attentions on the apartment next
door to the one from which she vanished,
it has been claimed.
The latest speculation on the police
investigation into the missing
four-year-old emerged as detectives in
the case admitted they may never find
her body.
There is speculation her corpse may have
been weighed down with rocks and dumped
in the sea or even destroyed in an
incinerator.
The new claims, in the Evening Standard,
centre on the apartment neighbouring the
McCanns' and police are said to believe
it may hold the key to the whereabouts
of any body in the hours after she was
reported missing.
They also follow reports in the
newspaper France Soir that Madeleine
allegedly died from an overdose of
sleeping pills.
Further claims in the Evening Standard
take the theory one step further
suggesting that the Forensic Science
Service in Birmingham has been asked to
look for evidence that she had been
given drugs on the night she went
missing and on earlier occasions.
The McCanns have always emphatically
denied that they ever sedated any of
their children.
Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry have
been formally named as suspects, but
police have admitted that they do not
have enough evidence to charge them.
Mrs McCann, 39, is expected to be
recalled to Portugal in the next few
days to face further questioning as
police work on the theory that she may
have accidentally killed her daughter
while her husband helped cover up the
crime.
The couple have vehemently denied these
claims.
But the couple, who spent Friday in
London consulting lawyers about their
arguido status, have been told the case
against them is weak if a body is not
found.
A senior Portuguese police source said
there was very little for detectives to
pin on the McCanns.
"We have nothing concrete," he told
Portuguese newspaper 24 Horas. "There
are a lot of indications but without
more information it is impossible to
determine what happened in those four
vital hours in the case between 6pm and
10pm.
"Even if the blood and traces gathered
in the car or in the apartment were
confirmed to correspond to 100 per cent
of the little girl's DNA, that wouldn't
prove anything."
Madeleine disappeared from the family's
holiday apartment 5A in the Mark Warner
Ocean Club resort on May 3.
For several weeks forensic scientists in
Birmingham have been examining bodily
fluids and hair found in the back of the
couple's Renault Scenic hired 25 days
after their daughter went missing.
As the investigation continued,
Portuguese newspaper Diario de Noticias
said police had admitted Madeleine's
body "may no longer exist".
A source told the paper: "One theory is
that the body may have been thrown in a
bag filled with stones into the high sea
from a yacht in Lagos marina."
Mr Murat, a 33-year-old property
developer, is the only other named
suspect, or arguido in the case.
Family friends of the McCanns have
demanded to know why he is not facing
the same amount of scrutiny as
Madeleine's parents.
They insist he was involved in the
preliminary search for the little girl
while he maintains he was at home with
his mother in their villa 150 yards from
the McCanns' apartment.
The Portuguese authorities are still
trying to track down Mrs McCann's
personal diary to gain an insight into
her psychological state before and after
Madeleine disappeared. It is understood
they have photocopies of extracts and
are now trying to get the papers
formally accepted as evidence.
The investigating judge Pedro Miguel dos
Anjos Frias, has until next Thursday to
authorise any further police activity in
the case against the McCanns after being
handed a 4,000 page file by the public
prosecutor last Tuesday.
Police are on standby to carry out
searches along the coast to the west of
Praia da Luz and attention has also
focused on the area surrounding the
town's church.
In the UK, Mr McCann's sister Philomena
said the couple and extended family
would be prepared to sell their homes to
help foot the legal bill to clear their
names.
Mr and Mrs McCann have appointed lawyers
in Portugal and the UK after being named
official suspects in their daughter's
disappearance.
The couple's £640,000 home in Rothley,
Leicestershire, has been besieged by the
world's media since the McCanns flew
home last Sunday.
Their battle to shift suspicion has been
hampered by the fact that they are not
allowed to hire their own private
investigator.
Under Portuguese law, no independent
inquiry can be carried out while a
criminal investigation is underway.
It is only when a person has been
charged with a crime that they are
entitled to appoint their own experts –
such as forensic specialists – which
have to be approved by the court |
