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Murat lover 'was at Jehovah's meeting as Maddie vanished'

HOMEPAGE NEWS REPORTS INDEX NEWS NOVEMBER 2007
SIGHTINGS PHOTOS MAIL NEWS SCREENSHOTS 2007 & 2008 ROBERT MURAT PHOTOS
Original Source: MAIL: THURSDAY 22 NOVEMBER 2007
By VANESSA ALLEN Last updated at 08:16 22 November 2007
 
• McCann detectives 'are small fry', say Portuguese police
• Elite police preparing to pull out of investigation
Robert Murat: His mother says he was at her villa all evening on May 3
Michaela Walczuch said she spent the evening that Madeleine was abducted in a prayer meeting

The girlfriend of suspect Robert Murat claims to have an alibi for the night Madeleine McCann vanished, it was revealed yesterday.

Friends of 34-year-old Michaela Walczuch said she spent the evening of May 3 at a Jehovah's Witness prayer meeting in Lagos, five miles from Praia da Luz where the McCanns were on holiday.

They said police had checked the alibi and were satisfied.

German-born Miss Walczuch, a mother of one, has dismissed claims that she could have been seen with Madeleine that night as "ridiculous and bizarre" and has threatened to take legal action.

She has failed to reveal, however, where she was on May 5 and June 15, when two separate witnesses claim to have seen her with Madeleine.

Mr Murat's lawyer, Francisco Pagarete, claimed yesterday this was because her diary had been seized by the police some months ago and has not been returned.

He also revealed that Miss Walczuch's Skoda car was having a gearbox problem repaired on May 5, the day a lorry driver claims to have seen her in the town of Silves, 25 miles away.

Mr Pagarete says this means Miss Walczuch was almost certainly in Lagos.

But the witness has told detectives the woman he later identified as Miss Walczuch was driving a hire car, described as "distinctive".

Miss Walczuch is barred from speaking about the investigation because of Portugal's strict secrecy laws, and has always refused to publicly reveal where she was on the evening of May 3.

But she is known to be a Jehovah's Witness, and a member of the religious group in Lagos said she attended meetings there until three months ago.

Joquim Silva said Miss Walczuch was still a regular member of the 100-strong congregation in May, although he could not remember if she was at the prayer meeting on the night Madeleine disappeared.

The group holds regular meetings on Sundays and Thursdays, between 8.30pm and 10.30pm. Madeleine is thought to have disappeared at some time between 8.30pm and 10pm on May 3, which was a Thursday.

A friend of Miss Walczuch said: "She told police this when she was questioned (on May 14) and they have confirmed her story.

"She is absolutely not involved in Madeleine's disappearance and has proved it to police."

Miss Walczuch and her estranged husband Luis Antonio, 37 - with whom she still shares a flat - were interrogated by police on the day Mr Murat was made an official suspect.

Their homes were searched and some items seized, including the diary. All three deny any involvement in Madeleine's disappearance.

Spotted: Isabel Gonzalez claims she saw Michaela Walczuch in this street in Morocco

Friends of Mr Antonio, a pool cleaner and gardener, have also denied reports that he ever worked at the Ocean Club apartment complex where the McCanns were staying.

Still missing: Madeleine McCann

Mr Murat, 34, a British expat, has been an official suspect for more than six months but has never been charged.

Private detectives working for the McCanns are investigating both alleged sightings of Miss Walczuch.

The second, on June 15, came in the remote town of Zaio, in northern Morocco.

Spaniard Isabel Gonzalez says she is "sure" she saw Miss Walczuch and a European man moments after she saw a blonde girl she believes was Madeleine.

• McCANN DETECTIVES ATTACKED

Police launched a contemptuous attack yesterday on the private detectives working for Kate and Gerry McCann.

The Spanish agency Metodo 3 has said its agents are "very close" to solving the case.

But detectives ridiculed the team as "irrelevant" and warned they would face action if they interfered with the police inquiry. A police source told the Correio da Manha newspaper: "We know when they come and what they do here."

The unnamed officer added: "They seem like small fry. They are irrelevant."

But McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "We have every confidence in Metodo 3's abilities. Everything Metodo 3 does is within the law."

• ELITE SQUAD 'TO PULL OUT'

The elite team of detectives brought in to take over the case last month could soon be pulling out again, a Portuguese newspaper reported yesterday. According to 24 Horas, the new analysis of all the evidence in the case has resulted in nothing which could help solve the mystery.

The move would be an embarrassing anti-climax for Alipio Ribeiro, national head of the Policia Judiciaria. He sent his deputy, Paulo Rebelo, to lead the new team after it emerged that the first investigators made catastrophic blunders, including destroying forensic evidence.

The newspaper said police still believe Madeleine died accidentally and her parents hid her body - but they cannot prove the theory.

Gerry and Kate McCann: Take every sighting seriously

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