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Original Source: MAIL:
05 AUGUST 2007 |
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5th
August 2007 |
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Police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in Portugal have
resumed their search of the home of the only official suspect in the case.
Around 10 police officers, including two from Britain, began searching and
digging up the land surrounding the house of Robert Murat early yesterday, his
spokesman Tuck Price said.
It is believed that 33-year-old Murat was not warned of the search. A police
source said: "This isn't just part of a routine review of evidence.
"Officers are acting on a specific new information.
"Madeleine's parents Gerry and Kate knew the raid was going to take place,
but it was important Robert Murat wasn't warned."
At Mr Murat's property in Praia da Luz, police cleared undergrowth, cut down
trees and began digging, just yards from where the little girl was snatched
from her family's holiday apartment more than three months ago.
Mr Murat is not currently at home but the search is expected to last up to
three more days.
Murat's spokesman Tuck Price told the Sunday Mirror: "The police arrived
at about 7am. Robert was in the house with his mum Jennifer and let the
officers in.
"They said they wanted to search the garden and went straight through to the
back.
"The police were raking the grass up and down. Some of the officers were
down on their hands and knees searching.
"When I asked the officers what they were looking for they would not tell
me. They just said it was all part of the investigation into Madeleine's
disappearance.
Murat was "calm and assured" Price added. "The police have not
re-questioned him and he was not taken to the police station.
"He went straight to a meeting with his lawyer not far away.
"He is allowed to return to the villa at any time he wants."
The search of Casa Liliana, the villa in which Mr Murat lives with his mother,
Jennifer, is not the first time the property has come under scrutiny.
Mr Murat was thrown into the spotlight on May 14, 11 days after the four-year-old
from Rothley, Leicestershire, was snatched from her bed in the Algarve
village.
Then officers from Portugal's
investigative Policia Judiciaria (PJ) swooped on the house - just a short walk
from the apartment where the McCanns were staying at the time of the abduction.
The villa was searched extensively and several items were taken away for
analysis while Mr Murat's girlfriend Michaela Walczuch and her estranged
Portuguese husband Luis Antonio were also interviewed as witnesses.
Mr Murat was named as an official "arguido", meaning suspect or
defendant, but was never formally arrested.
In July he was re-interviewed by police investigating the youngster's
disappearance.
Friend's of the McCanns have always insisted that they saw Robert Murat near
the the McCanns apartment on the night Madeleine vanished but Murat maintains
that he was at home with his elderly mother all evening when the four-year-old
was snatched from her bed on May 3.
The latest search in Portugal
comes as police in Belgium
investigate a possible sighting of the four-year-old there.
A customer at a restaurant in the Flemish town of Tongeren, not far from the Dutch border, said
she was "100 per cent sure" she had seen the youngster.
She said the girl was with a couple, a Dutch man and an English-speaking woman,
who were acting strangely and not like "normal parents".
Police are treating the report "seriously" and are looking for DNA on
a drinks bottle used by the girl. The results from the DNA tests are expected
next week.
Police have also issued an identikit drawing of the man based on the
description given by the "trusted witness".
The McCanns are continuing to urge anyone with any information about
Madeleine's whereabouts to contact police.
• Information can be provided to an international Crimestoppers number on 0044
18 83 73 13 36, Crimestoppers in the UK on 0800 555 111 or Portuguese
police on 00351 282 405 400. |
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