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Portuguese police have ended their search in local scrubland where it was
claimed the body of missing British girl Madeleine McCann is buried. It appears
that the tip was erroneous, but it possibly could have revealed one clue - a
towel found at the site could provide a vital clue to the disappearance of
Maddie, reports claim.
Forensic teams will examine the light brown beach towel to establish if there
is any link to the missing four-year-old - and whether it might be the
"blanket" her kidnapper is believed to have used that night six weeks
ago to smuggle her away, This is London details in a report. A friend of the
McCanns has said she saw a man carrying a child away in a blanket on the evening
of May 3, about 30 minutes before anyone noticed Madeleine had disappeared.
***
It was discovered nine
miles from the McCann family's holiday apartment - in an area pinpointed by an
anonymous letter to a Dutch newspaper as the spot where she was buried.
The discovery was made by two journalists from the Amsterdam based De Telegraaf
newspaper, who led Portuguese police to the area marked with a cross on a map
that accompanied the letter. They videoed the find and handed it to
detectives.
It was reported earlier
that dogs would be brought to the search area - but spokesman for the local GNR
police, which handles day-to-day policing, said they
had received no request from the investigative police, who are in charge of the
investigation, for help or to bring sniffer dogs to the area.
***
Madeleine's parents, Kate
and Gerry McCann, say they are outraged that the letter was published, slamming
the move as insensitive, cruel and 'irresponsible journalism.' |
