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DETECTIVES investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann are
re-interviewing key witnesses in a final bid to crack the case. Five
staff members who were at the Ocean Club complex on the night she went
missing have been quizzed in recent days as pressure mounts to conclude
the investigation. Among those interviewed was the estranged husband of
Robert Murat’s girlfriend Michaela Walczuch. Luis Antonio, a pool
cleaner, worked at the resort last summer.
In a fresh development, three members of the so-called Tapas Nine, who
were at dinner with Kate and Gerry McCann on the evening of May 3 when
Madeleine vanished, are also likely to be questioned. The burst of
activity comes just days after
Portugal’s justice minister Alberto
Costa said the case was almost at an end. It is understood the Policia
Judiciaria are preparing to shelve the nine-month inquiry. But the head
of the investigation, Paulo Rebelo, has demanded that certain key
statements are double checked.
Antonio, 37, who still lives with his wife, despite her being the
girlfriend of British suspect Robert Murat, was first interviewed last
May, just weeks after Madeleine went missing. A police source told the
Portuguese newspaper 24 Horas that the fresh round of interviews was
intended to unearth any tiny details missed initially.
The source said: ''Several police interviews have been repeated and the
statements are being analysed to try to find any lead that could result
in a new line of investigation.”
Portuguese detectives are also expected to travel to Leicestershire to
oversee interviews of three of the McCanns’ holiday friends – Russell
O’Brien, Jane Tanner and David Payne. Formal letters requesting the
interviews have now been received by the Home Office and will be handed
to Leicestershire Police next week. They want to clear up alleged
inconsistencies in their original statements.
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