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Portuguese police believe Gerry and Kate McCann are using
friends to hide their role in killing Madeleine.
The Daily Express can reveal that their seven holiday
friends may now be named as suspects as police believe they
are hiding the truth about Madeleine's death.
The dramatic move comes as it was reported that former chief
suspect Robert Murat is to be told he will not face charges
over the four-year-olds disappearance. Ruling him out of the
four-month investigation will leave Kate and Gerry McCann as
the sole suspects. Last night police sources said the
decision could have a devastating impact on the McCann's
defence.
In an astonishing twist, British expat Murat could be used
as a key prosecution witness against the McCanns.
Almost the entire police case against Murat was built on
evidence from the couple's holiday friends. Investigators
believe the McCanns "cooked up a story" that Madeleine had
been kidnapped to throw them off the trail and enlisted
members of their party to provide them with an alibi. They
also believe the group tried to turn the focus of the
investigation towards Murat.
Yesterday it was revealed that police are questioning new
witnesses who cast doubts over the evidence of members of
the holiday group.
The McCanns and their friends told how they took turns to
check on their children every 30 minutes as they ate at a
tapas restaurant on May 3, the night Madeleine vanished.
But one Portuguese newspaper reported that employees at the
restaurant insisted that only Dr Russell O'Brien, 36, and
hospital consultant Matthew Oldfield, 37, left the dinner
table that evening.
Another witness has come forward to refute the testimony of
a third friend Jane Tanner, 36, who told police she saw a
man carrying a child rushing from the Ocean Club complex at
around 9.15pm on May 3.
Yesterday it was reported in Portugal that a new witness, an
unnamed Irishman, told police he was in the same spot as
Miss Tanner at the same time and saw no one.
He is the second independent witness to dispute her story
and police sources said they viewed Miss Tanner's evidence
as 'unreliable' because of inconsistencies.
Officers are concerned that she apparently changed her
version of the sighting.
She originally claimed she saw the suspect rushing towards
the Baptista supermarket in Praia da Luz. She told police
the child was wrapped in a blanket.
A second independent witness reported seeing a similar man
with a child in a blanket near the towns church heading
towards the beach. The route he took matches the alleged
trail of death discovered by British sniffer dogs who
detected the scent of a corpse.
But Miss Tanner has now told detectives that the man was
heading in a different direction – towards Murat's home.
Police regard her account as one of a series given by the
McCanns and their friends to convince them that Madeleine
had been kidnapped.
Officers believe former hospital anaesthetist Kate, 39,
killed her daughter by accidentally giving her an overdose
of sleeping pills. They are working on the theory that
consultant cardiologist Gerry, also 39, helped to dispose of
Madeleine's body.
Police are awaiting results of toxicology tests carried out
on bodily fluids with an 88 per cent match to Madeleine's
DNA found in the boot of a hire car the couple rented 25
days after she went missing.
Dr O'Brien, along with Mr Oldfield's wife Rachael, 36, and
another friend Dr Fiona Payne, 34, said they saw Murat near
the McCanns apartment on May 3 and their claim appeared to
shatter Murat's alibi.
Detectives interrogated the McCanns at police headquarters
in Portimao 17 days ago over the discrepancies. The couple
were told separately later that day they were being named as
suspects or arguidos.
Last night another member of the McCanns holiday party was
reported to have stepped into the mystery. The move came
after it was revealed that police in Portugal were focusing
their investigation on a lost seven hours on the day
Madeleine disappeared.
Now Dr Paynes husband a medical researcher David, 41 has
claimed he saw Madeleine being put to bed when he visited
the McCann flat at 7pm.
Before his new testimony, police sources admitted they could
not confirm the whereabouts of Kate and Madeleine after
1.29pm that day.
Kate's movements were said to be unaccounted for until she
sat down to have dinner with Gerry and their friends at
around 8.40pm. But the McCanns believe Mr Payne's testimony
will be crucial in proving their innocence.
That would leave just an hour and a half in which they were
supposed to have killed their daughter and disposed of her
body.
But last night a source in Portugal said police were viewing
alibis provided by the McCanns friends with suspicion. They
are convinced that some or all of them may have known what
happened to Madeleine and may have helped to cover up her
death.
The source said police had not ruled out the possibility of
naming them all as suspects – and they could face being
charged as accessories.
The source said: It has long been considered a number of
people may have been involved in this unfortunate case.
In Portugal yesterday it was revealed that detectives have
seized a British police manual from the McCanns.
Officers believe the book could be used as a key piece of
evidence in building a case against them.
A Portuguese police source said: "it is certainly not the
sort of reading material you would expect a couple to take
on a relaxing family holiday." |
