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Murat was first declared a suspect 10 days after
Madeleine disappeared |
The first official suspect in the
Madeleine McCann investigation is to face a fresh
police interrogation, it was claimed yesterday.
Plans to re-interview
Robert Murat
are part of the
root-andbranch review of the case which led Portuguese officers
back to the McCann family's holiday
apartment.
The move raises the prospect that Kate and Gerry McCann and the
other members of the so-called
Tapas
Nine
could also be
re-interviewed by the new head of the investigation,
Paulo
Rebelo.
He has ordered a review of every aspect of the six-month case.
He and six officers staged a re-enactment of different theories
when they returned to the family's apartment in the
Ocean Club
complex on Monday.
They also walked the short distance between the McCann holiday
flat and the villa where Mr Murat lives with his elderly mother
in
Praia da Luz, and from the apartment to the sea.
Mr Rebelo ordered his team to interrogate 33-year-old Mr Murat
again after carrying out the searches at the apartment, the
London Evening Standard reported.
He is examining problem areas in the investigation and 'facts
that do not fall into place', a source said, adding: 'He is not
satisfied with the evidence gathering at the start of the
investigation - and obviously much of that work was focused on
Murat.'
The ex-pat property consultant was named an official suspect on
May 14 and his house and garden were searched.
He has always denied any involvement in Madeleine's
disappearance. His lawyer
Francisco Pagarete
challenged
Portuguese police to search his home once more or clear him.
Mr Pagarete said police had yet to contact him or his client
about the prospect of further interviews.
A friend of Mr Murat,
Tuck Price, said: "It would be great if he
was reinterviewed because he wants this cleared up, but there's
been no contact with the police for months."
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Police investigators study the area around the
apartment during the reconstruction |
Officers in the case were accused last night of allowing all the
evidence to become contaminated because they failed to seal off
the crime scene.
Every item gathered from the McCanns' apartment has been
rendered 'worthless' by the botched investigation, a Portuguese
forensics official said.
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The strain of the shambolic investigation into
Madeleine's disappearance takes its toll on Kate
McCann |
He blamed the failure on the fact that Portugal, unlike Britain,
does not train police officers to seal off crime scenes before
forensics teams start work. In the Madeleine case, it meant that
officers did not put on forensics suits, gloves or masks before
entering the apartment. Laboratory staff have complained that
samples were contaminated with ash from officers' cigarettes.
Detectives drove the family's hired
Renault Scenic
and a van
belonging to Mr Murat to the laboratory instead of sealing them
off and putting them on low-loaders, and even managed to crash
Mr Murat's van.
Fingerprints from the officers were found in the vehicles and
potentially vital forensic evidence, including traces of DNA,
could have been contaminated or destroyed.
The catalogue of errors means police effectively destroyed any
chance of discovering what happened to Madeleine on the night
she disappeared, the unnamed police laboratory official told the
Portuguese newspaper 24 Horas.
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Gerry McCann grimaces on the golf course as the
search for Madeleine goes backwards instead of
forwards |
A friend of the McCanns said: "It is a disgrace, and
Kate and
Gerry
are very upset. They feel the chances of catching
Madeleine's abductor may well have been affected by the slapdash
way the forensics and police have behaved."
The Ministry of Justice and the Policia Judiciaria refused to
comment.
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Madeleine has been missing since May 3 |
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The new police team under Paulo Rebelo search the
McCann villa |
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An aerial view of Murat's home Casa Liliana in
relation to the apartment from which Madeleine
disappeared |
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