TWO British sisters have revealed they saw oddball Robert Murat lurking by the Portuguese holiday apartment from which Madeleine McCann vanished.
Annie Wiltshire, 58, and Jayne Jensen, 53, told cops they spotted the 34-year-old ex-pat smoking a cigarette outside the Ocean Club moments after the search for Maddie was launched.

The sighting contradicts Murat’s alibi that he spent the evening at his nearby home with his mum Jenny – and did not learn of the four-year-old’s disappearance until the next morning.
The sisters, who both live in Kent, have branded his story “ridiculous”.
Their disclosure brings the number of people who believe they saw Murat on the fateful night to EIGHT.

He was the first official suspect in the case and remains in the frame.
The sisters were on a fortnight’s holiday in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz.
They stayed in an apartment opposite the tapas bar where Maddie’s parents Kate and Gerry were dining with friends when the tot went missing.

Drink
Jayne, of Maidstone, and cancer sufferer Annie, of Aylesford, told cops they saw Murat smoking outside the Ocean Club’s entrance, 20 metres from the McCanns’ apartment, between 10.30 and 11pm on May 3.
The alarm over Maddie, was raised at 10pm.
The sisters recognised Murat the next day as he acted as an interpreter for cops.
A source close to them told how a friend invited them to his apartment for a drink later the same day.

As they discussed Maddie’s disappearance, property consultant Murat passed by.
He doubled back, asked if everyone was OK and joined them for a drink.
The source said: “On reflection they all thought his behaviour was a bit odd. He was dressed in a navy T-shirt and jeans.
He was very sweaty and said he had to shower and change as he had been in these clothes all day.

“They felt that was strange because he had been in a striped shirt and trousers earlier. Every time they see him claiming he was not there on the night, they find it ridiculous.”

The sisters passed their information to British police on their return.
But after renewed appeals for help by doctors Kate and Gerry, both 39, the pair decided to contact Metodo 3, the Spanish detective agency hired by the McCanns. And their story finally emerged yesterday.

Jayne’s son Joe, who is in his 20s, told The Sun: “They feel their evidence is very circumstantial but realise it could be crucial when taken into the wider picture.
“They saw Robert Murat on the night Madeleine disappeared and they want to help. They decided to report what they saw. It’s not a question of having a go at Murat.”
A source close to the Maddie investigation said: “We are grateful to them.

“They were staying independently near the Ocean Club so were not on any police list of residents there.
“Significantly, they put Murat in the area on the night.”
Murat has always denied any wrongdoing and his 71-year-old mum has backed his alibi.

Today, a close friend of Murat's has rubbished the fresh claims
Family friend Tuck Price today suggested the women must have mistaken him for somebody else, adding: “He wasn’t there.”
The sisters also told cops they saw two men acting suspiciously on a balcony overlooking the tapas bar on the day Maddie vanished