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Crime experts revealed yesterday that it would have taken less than three
minutes to hide Madeleine McCann’s body.
The specialists insisted that was all the time it would have taken for a
suspect to remove her from her family’s holiday apartment and return to the
resort.
The crimebusters concluded that Madeleine’s parents – or any member of their
holiday party – could have disposed of her body without raising suspicion.
The independent Portuguese team carried out their own reconstruction of events
the night that Madeleine vanished. They found it was “highly unlikely” she
could have been taken from the apartment at the Ocean Club resort by an
abductor on foot because it would have attracted too much attention.
Using a special computer programme, the experts found it would have taken less
than 30 seconds to reach the church in Praia da Luz where a “trail of death”
leading from the apartment is said to have ended.
British sniffer dogs picked up the scent of a corpse, leading to the theory
that Madeleine’s body could have been dumped in the sea close to the church or
hidden nearby.
Examining the two most likely routes, the experts concluded it would have taken
“less than three minutes” to dispose of Madeleine’s corpse using a car driven
at 20mph.
It is one of the principal lines of inquiry which Portuguese police have
followed since Madeleine vanished on May 3.
Police believe Madeleine was killed in an accident in the apartment and are
convinced her parents, Kate and Gerry, played a part in her death.
The new findings were revealed in a special investigation for a Portuguese TV
programme.
Former police inspector Fransisco Moita Flores said: “There are so many
contradictory theories, but she was taken, dead or alive, according to the
dogs, down to the church.
“This would have to have been done by car. There is a piece of land behind the
church and behind that is the sea.
“A car could take you from the apartment to the sea in 30 seconds, whichever
route was used.
Let’s say something went wrong, we have about 40 seconds. If you add two
minutes to dispose of the body by sea – that’s little more than two and a half
minutes at the most. It would take just another 30 seconds to return to the
resort.
Madeleine disappeared while the McCanns and seven holiday friends were dining
at the resort.
Members of the party told police they were taking it in turns to check on their
children during the meal.
Mr Flores added: “That is more than enough time for any member of the group
that left the table during that meal to be considered a suspect.
“Many of the group, according to what we’re told, was absent from that table –
every one of them for more than three minutes.”
Mr Flores said it would have been impossible for a suspect to carry off
Madeleine without being seen.
He said: “The little girl was removed and taken elsewhere – whether alive by an
abductor or dead after an accident.
“In either case, to leave the apartment there are a lot of overlooking holiday
properties.
“The risk to somebody carrying the child via either of those routes would be
enormous. There would have been people in the streets and cars.”
Another member of the team, Professor Paulo Sargento, of Lusofana
University in Lisbon, said: “I am convinced that whatever
happened happened within the McCanns and their group of friends.
“The reconstruction shows how unlikely it is that any other explanation could
be possible.”
The McCanns categorically deny causing the death of their daughter or disposing
of her body.
A friend dismissed the latest claims as “more wild speculation”. The friend
pointed out that the McCanns did not hire a car until 25 days after Madeleine
disappeared.
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