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Portuguese police have
allegedly asked UK
forensics experts to
examine evidence to see
if Madeleine McCann
might have previously
been drugged, as they
turn their attentions on
the apartment next door
to the one from which
she vanished, it has
been claimed.
The latest speculation
on the police
investigation into the
missing four-year-old
emerged as detectives in
the case admitted they
may never find her body.
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The McCanns
spent Friday
in London
consulting
their
lawyers |
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GERRY PHOTOS |
There is speculation her
corpse may have been
weighed down with rocks
and dumped in the sea or
even destroyed in an
incinerator.
The new claims, in the
Evening Standard, centre
on the apartment
neighbouring the
McCann's
and police are said to
believe it may hold the
key to the whereabouts
of any body in the hours
after she was reported
missing.
They also follow reports
in the newspaper France
Soir that Madeleine
allegedly died from an
overdose of sleeping
pills.
Further claims in the
Evening Standard take
the theory one step
further suggesting that
the Forensic Science
Service in Birmingham
has been asked to look
for evidence that she
had been given drugs on
the night she went
missing and on earlier
occasions.
The McCann's have always
emphatically denied that
they ever sedated any of
their children.
Madeleine's parents Kate
and Gerry have been
formally named as
suspects, but police
have admitted that they
do not have enough
evidence to charge them.
Mrs McCann, 39, is
expected to be recalled
to Portugal in the next
few days to face further
questioning as police
work on the theory that
she may have
accidentally killed her
daughter while her
husband helped cover up
the crime.
The couple have
vehemently denied these
claims.
But the couple, who
spent Friday in London
consulting lawyers about
their arguido status,
have been told the case
against them is weak if
a body is not found.
A senior Portuguese
police source said there
was very little for
detectives to pin on the
McCanns.
"We have nothing
concrete," he told
Portuguese newspaper 24
Horas. "There are a lot
of indications but
without more information
it is impossible to
determine what happened
in those four vital
hours in the case
between 6pm and 10pm.
"Even if the blood and
traces gathered in the
car or in the apartment
were confirmed to
correspond to 100 per
cent of the little
girl's DNA, that
wouldn't prove
anything."
Madeleine disappeared
from the family's
holiday apartment 5A in
the Mark Warner Ocean
Club resort on May 3.
For several weeks
forensic scientists in
Birmingham have been
examining bodily fluids
and hair found in the
back of the couple's
Renault Scenic hired 25
days after their
daughter went missing.
As the investigation
continued, Portuguese
newspaper Diario de
Noticias said police had
admitted Madeleine's
body "may no longer
exist".
A source told the paper:
"One theory is that the
body may have been
thrown in a bag filled
with stones into the
high sea from a yacht in
Lagos marina."
Mr Murat, a 33-year-old
property developer, is
the only other named
suspect, or arguido in
the case.
Family friends of the
McCann's have demanded to
know why he is not
facing the same amount
of scrutiny as
Madeleine's parents.
They insist he was
involved in the
preliminary search for
the little girl while he
maintains he was at home
with his mother in their
villa 150 yards from the
McCann's' apartment.
The Portuguese
authorities are still
trying to track down Mrs
McCann's personal diary
to gain an insight into
her psychological state
before and after
Madeleine disappeared.
It is understood they
have photocopies of
extracts and are now
trying to get the papers
formally accepted as
evidence.
The investigating judge
Pedro Miguel dos Anjos
Frias, has until next
Thursday to authorise
any further police
activity in the case
against the McCann's
after being handed a
4,000 page file by the
public prosecutor last
Tuesday.
Police are on standby to
carry out searches along
the coast to the west of
Praia da Luz and
attention has also
focused on the area
surrounding the town's
church.
In the UK, Mr McCann's
sister Philomena said
the couple and extended
family would be prepared
to sell their homes to
help foot the legal bill
to clear their names.
Mr and Mrs McCann have
appointed lawyers in
Portugal and the UK
after being named
official suspects in
their daughter's
disappearance.
The couple's £640,000
home in Rothley,
Leicestershire, has been
besieged by the world's
media since the McCann's
flew home last Sunday.
Their battle to shift
suspicion has been
hampered by the fact
that they are not
allowed to hire their
own private
investigator.
Under Portuguese law, no
independent inquiry can
be carried out while a
criminal investigation
is underway.
It is only when a person
has been charged with a
crime that they are
entitled to appoint
their own experts – such
as forensic specialists
– which have to be
approved by the court |
