The Spanish child's body was found
floating in an estuary in Huelva near
the Portuguese border on March 7 shortly
after the posters went up around Spain.
The man
has told police he panicked and dumped
her body after she fell to her death in
an accident.
It had
previously been reported he had
confessed to murdering her.
He now
claims she fell from stairs in flats
where he was living in Huelva when she
disappeared.
He is
reported to have convictions for child
abuse and indecent assault on minors,
and is already said to have confessed to
Mari Luz's murder.
Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for the
McCanns, said today: "We hope the
Portuguese police will be liaising with
the Spanish police to establish this
man's movements around the time
Madeleine disappeared.
"We
have no indication there is a direct
link between the two cases.
"But
given the proximity of the places
Madeleine and Mari Luz disappeared from
and the similarity in their ages, we
believe it's important the Portuguese
police make absolutely sure there's no
connection now there's been an arrest."
Madeleine, four, vanished on May 3 as
Gerry and Kate, both 39, ate tapas in a
nearby bar in the Algarve resort of
Praia da Luz.
Mari
Luz disappeared from her home town of
Huelva, a 90-minute drive away, on
January 13 as she went to buy sweets.
A
post-mortem carried out after her body
was discovered showed she had been
suffocated. Her parents subsequently
ordered a second post-mortem whose
results have not been made public.
Spanish TV station Telecinco today named
the man arrested on suspicion of her
murder as Santiago del Valle Garcia.
Police have not confirmed the name.
His
sister, named unofficially as Rosa, and
his wife, named unofficially as Isabel,
were also arrested - although one of the
women is thought to have been released
early this morning.
All
three were detained in a rented house in
Cuenca, an hour and a half's drive south
of Madrid.
The
arrested man is a former neighbour of
Mari Luz's family and lived less than
100 yards from her parents Juan Jose and
Irene on the route the youngster would
have taken as she returned from a local
sweet shop.
He had
already been quizzed by police before
his arrest yesterday after arousing the
suspicion of locals by leaving Huelva
with his wife the day after Mari Luz
disappeared.
Police
are also reported to be quizzing him
over a plot to kidnap a schoolgirl in
Seville and a friendship he struck up
with a 12-year-old girl over the
Internet after allegedly fooling her
into believing he was a youngster of the
same age.
Speaking shortly after the arrest, Mari
Luz's dad said: "This comes as no
surprise to me. We know it's him."
