•Portuguese papers claim Kate McCann killed Madeleine while
Gerry played tennis
•Couple
‘then hid the child’s body in a fridge and later disposed of
it in Spain’
•McCann
spokesman Clarence Mitchell said the reports were ‘utterly
ludicrous’
Police in
Portugal believe Kate McCann killed her daughter Madeleine
in a 90-minute “gap” while her husband played tennis, it has
been claimed.
Detectives think the child’s body was stored in a fridge and
moved to “various locations” around the family’s holiday
resort of Praia da Luz before it was placed in the boot of
her parents’ hire car and dumped, sources told a Portuguese
newspaper.
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Kate and
Gerry McCann while in Spain this August. The Portuguese
media claims they dumped Madeleine’s body while there
The
latest lurid allegations were dismissed as “ludicrous” by
the McCann’s spokesman Clarence Mitchell, who said they
caused “real pain and hurt” to the four-year-old’s parents.
After
months of rumours from inside the police investigation, Mr
Mitchell said: “It’s just utterly ridiculous allegation
after allegation. Surely it is time for this to stop. It’s
ludicrous.”
Madeleine’s parents are unable to answer the claims,
however, because they are under threat of a 12-month jail
sentence if they speak publicly about their daughter, it has
been claimed.
Friends
said the couple have had to turn down scores of interview
requests from around the world, including one from legendary
U.S. broadcaster Barbara Walters, since they were made
official suspects on September 7.
Under
Portuguese laws, they could face criminal charges or even a
prison sentence if they speak out.
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down for more …
Madeleine
is still missing
Yesterday
the Portuguese paper Diario de Noticias said detectives
think Madeleine died between 7pm and 8.30pm on May 3.
David
Payne, a friend of Kate and Gerry McCann, said he saw Mrs
McCann put their three children to bed at about 7pm, and the
couple joined friends for dinner at about 8.30pm.
A police
source told the paper that Mr McCann was seen playing tennis
during the 90-minute “gap” before Mrs McCann was seen again,
meaning she was alone with Madeleine and two-year-old twins
Sean and Amelie.
But
friends insisted the couple had both played tennis, then put
the children to bed together before joining their friends
for dinner.
A gag
order is preventing Kate McCann from talking to journalists
like Barbara Walters
Police
are convinced that Madeleine died by accident at the hands
of her mother, and that Mr McCann helped to cover up the
death.
The
source said they believed the child’s body “passed through
various-locations” before it was put in the boot of the
Renault Scenic hired three weeks after Madeleine vanished.
Police are “carrying out non-visible operations and locating
apartments with fridges”, the source said.
A family
friend ridiculed the suggestion that Madeleine’s body could
have been stored in a fridge, saying: “Have you seen the
size of the fridges in those apartments? Of course they did
not stuff her in a fridge.”
Any
search of the Ocean Club complex in Praia da Luz would be
certain to include the apartments where the family’s friends
stayed during the holiday.
Police
are desperate to break a perceived “pact of silence” between
the friends, and have made a series of slurs against them
and the McCanns in a bid to panic them into speaking out.
On
Wednesday police sources briefed Portuguese journalists that
their counterparts in Spain were investigating a
“suspicious” trip to Huelva by the McCanns – a claim which
was denied outright as “totally false” by Spanish
authorities yesterday.
The
denial adds weight to the McCanns’ belief that they are
victims of a smear campaign fuelled by the Portuguese
police.
The
McCanns, both 39, are preparing for another painful
milestone tomorrow, which will be the 150th day since
Madeleine disappeared.
But the
couple secured a victory yesterday when Portugal said it
would push for the creation of an EU-wide alert system for
missing children. |