Robert
Murat is again investigated in the
disappearance of Madeleine McCann. This
time, he is one of the seven persons
that Scotland Yard has asked to be heard
due to considering that they are “of
special interest”.
Robert’s wife, Michaela Walczuch, and
her former husband, Luís António, are
also on the list of people that have
been identified to give a statement
within the scope of the fifth letter
rogatory of the case that is being
investigated in the United Kingdom. A
list that has already been given the
green light by the Public Ministry (MP)
and that was sent to the Polícia
Judiciária (PJ) in the South for
execution. The three know Sergey Malinka,
a Russian citizen that has been made an
arguido in July, on request from British
authorities in a previous letter
rogatory.
Robert was the first arguido within the
Portuguese process, followed by Kate and
Gerry McCann. He ended up being cleared
of all suspicions. The German-Portuguese
woman and her former companion were
witnesses in the Portuguese
investigation. The other names on the
list of seven persons of interest are a
Portuguese man who worked at the Ocean
Club, a man who resembles one of the
e-fits and a British couple. Apart from
the interrogations, the magistrate at
the Public Ministry in Portimão, Inês
Sequeira, has also authorised the
questioning of witnesses.
The seven interrogations and the four
questionings were scheduled to take
place next week, at the PJ in Faro, with
set dates and times. But the
investigators have, in the meantime,
received a request for a change of the
fifth letter rogatory, at a stage when
it was about to be fulfilled, which led
to the postponement of the diligences,
which will have to be rescheduled. The
process status of each one of the
persons may also be subject to change.
The request will now be analysed by the
prosecutor in Portimão, who is on sick
leave, which means it’s uncertain when
the new calendar for the diligences will
be known.
Robert Murat, a British citizen who went
to school in Portugal, commands both
languages and served as an interpreter
in several diligences that were
performed by GNR officers, and later by
PJ inspectors. He even postponed a
flight to England, at the PJ’s request,
in order to continue his service. A
constant presence that a journalist
considered to be suspicious, comparing
Robert to the case of a suspect that was
always at the crime scene and close to
the police. Later on, the group with
which the McCann couple spent their
holidays pointed the finger at him,
identifying him as the man that some
said they saw carrying a child on the
night of the 3rd of May.
The British man ended up being made an
arguido eleven days after the
disappearance. The house where he lived
with his mother, just metres away from
the Ocean Club, was subject to searches,
holes were opened in the ground, using
sophisticated technology, looking for
traces of the child, and vehicles and
computers were inspected, always without
finding any clues. The absence of
indicia about what happened to Madeleine
led to the inquiry being archived, in
2008. Upon proposal from the PJ, it was
reopened in October last year.
Seven years of moving forward and
backwards:
May 2007 – Madeleine, aged 3, disappears
from the Ocean Club apartment in the
Algarve
May 2007 – Robert Murat is made an
arguido and questioned by the PJ
May [sic] 2007 – Kate and Gerry McCann
are made arguidos and questioned by the
PJ
July 2008 - The inquiry is archived by
the Public Ministry
October 2013 - The inquiry is reopened
June 2014 – Searches on grounds in praia
da Luz are performed upon request from
the British police, led by detective
Andy Redwood and using means that are
brought in from England, including
radars and sniffer dogs
July 2014 – the first four arguidos are
made within the British investigation
August 2014 – the fifth letter rogatory
arrives at the Public Ministry in
Portimão
The Scotland Yard’s investigation that
was opened in 2011 has already cost 10
million euro |
