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The
parents of Madeleine McCann last night reacted with fury to
reports suggesting that they have become suspects in their
daughter's disappearance
Several
Portuguese newspapers claimed yesterday that detectives now
believe the four-year-old girl was killed in her bedroom,
either deliberately or by accident.
It comes
after police, using sniffer dogs, found traces of blood on
the wall of the apartment bedroom where she disappeared 97
days ago.
However,
Chief Insp Olegario Sousa, a Portuguese police spokesman,
said last night: "The family are not suspects. This is the
official position."
Gerry and
Kate McCann hit back, insisting that Madeleine was abducted
and reiterating their belief that she was still alive. Mr
McCann, who could hardly hide his anger, said: "We're not
naive, but on numerous occasions the Portuguese police have
assured us they were looking for Madeleine alive and not
Madeleine having been murdered. I don't know of any
information that's changed that."
Mrs
McCann added: "Last week when we met with the police they
said, 'We are looking for a living child.' " Separately, in
a magazine interview published yesterday, Mrs McCann also
said: "It is not us who committed the crime, but people will
always criticise."
Mr and
Mrs McCann are expected to be re-interviewed as part of a
review of evidence by British detectives.
A car
used by the couple was taken for forensic testing on Monday,
even though it had been hired five weeks after Madeleine
disappeared.
The
parents face a two-week wait for DNA test results to return
to see if the blood found in the room matches their
daughter's. However, it is known that the sniffer dogs can
detect blood up to seven years old, and that hundreds of
visitors have stayed in the two-bedroom apartment in Praia
da Luz in recent years.
Asked
about the discovery, Mr McCann said he could not comment on
the specific details but added he was aware "that
developments were going to happen".
He said:
"We do know some information that, one, we're not allowed to
tell, and, two, we would never ever put anything into the
public domain that might put the investigation of Madeleine
at risk."
Mr McCann
said the fact that he and his wife had come under scrutiny
from detectives was "difficult" but insisted they were "more
than happy" to co-operate.
With the
only formal suspect in the case, Robert Murat, expected to
be cleared of his "arguido" status within days, the
Portuguese media has switched its focus to the McCanns and
their friends.
Diario de
Noticas, a tabloid newspaper, claimed yesterday that police
were "definite" that it was not a kidnap and that Madeleine
died in her room.
A source
close to the family said: "Kate and Gerry are well aware
what these reports are inferring and that is that either
they deliberately or by accident killed Madeleine. Gerry is
absolutely livid about it all."
The
Portuguese reports have also turned their attention to the
group the McCanns were on holiday with.
One paper
even suggested that they were now "under surveillance" in
the UK, reports which were denied as "laughable" by
Portuguese and British authorities.
Meanwhile, results of DNA tests on a bottle used by a girl
resembling Madeleine in Belgium are expected to be returned
tomorrow.
Police in
Switzerland are also liaising with Interpol to see if there
was a link with a Swiss paedophile who was holidaying in the
Algarve when Madeleine disappeared. He committed suicide
last weekend. |
