MADDIE: PARENTS ARE LYING
POLICE last night showed they think Madeleine McCann’s parents are lying over her disappearance as they declared the only other suspect innocent.
Detectives revealed they now believe ex-pat Brit property developer Robert Murat, 33, has nothing to do with the case.
They think he is the victim of a plot by the McCanns and their pals to frame him for Madeleine’s abduction and murder. The seven friends on holiday with the couple could all now be named suspects.
Police want to know why three of them insisted they saw Mr Murat outside the couple’s apartment the night the four-year-old disappeared when he was, in fact, not there.
Police also want to know why a fourth pal, Jane Tanner, claimed she saw a man carrying a child dressed in pyjamas towards Mr Murat’s mum’s villa.
Though denying it was him, Mr Murat himself conceded he matched the description. Detectives dismissed Miss Tanner’s account after two independent witnesses saw no-one other than her.
In a sworn statement to police Mr Murat said he never left his mum’s villa 100 yards from the holiday apartment in the Portug-uese resort of Praia da Luz where Madeleine vanished on May 3.
Mr Murat could now become a key witness for the prosecution.
He joined in the search for Madeleine in the days after she vanished and observed the actions of the McCanns and their pals.
Murat’s mother Jennifer, 71, insisted that he had dined with her then gone to bed.
Mobile phone experts who track movements when calls are placed revealed Mr Murat was telling the truth.
He remains an official suspect in the case today simply for legal reasons, because it allows police to continue to rely on evidence collected during their probe into his involvement.
A police source said: “Not everyone can be telling the truth here.
“While the McCanns’ and their friends’ accounts rely entirely on each other, there is strong independent evidence suggesting Murat is telling the truth.
“Every as-pect of his life has been investigated in detail and nothing has been found to tie him to this.
“If he wasn’t there we must then ask ourselves why these people are saying he was.”
Police are now plann-ing to re-interview Miss Tanner, 37, and the trio who placed Mr Murat outside the apartment “as a matter of urgency”.
They are Miss Tanner’s casualty consultant partner Dr Russell O’Brien, 36, Dr Fiona Payne, 34, and doctor’s wife Rachael Oldfield, 36.
The three remaining friends, Dr Payne’s medical researcher husband David, 41, her mum Dianne Webster and Mrs Oldfield’s consultant husband Matthew, 37, are also expected to be quizzed again.
Under Portuguese law detectives would have to declare them suspects in order to ask them key questions.
Police think GP Kate McCann, 39, accidentally killed Maddie in their apartment then roped in her heart consultant husband Gerry, also 39, to help dispose of the body.
Detectives think former hospital anaesthetist Kate gave Madeleine a dose of sedatives to help her sleep while she and her husband dined with pals in a tapas bar 40 yards away.
Officers believe the youngster either overdosed or suffered an adverse reaction.
They are awaiting the results of toxicology tests carried out on body fluids with an 88% match to Madeleine’s DNA found in the boot of a hire car that the couple rented three weeks after she disappeared.
Police now believe at least some of the couple’s pals know what happened to the youngster.
The McCanns and their friends all deny any involvement in Madel-eine’s disappearance.
The McCanns claim they are being framed by Portuguese police to solve a case they have bungled.
Mr Murat’s lawyer Francisco Pagarete last night said he knew “nothing officially” about his client being cleared.
But he added: “That is in fact the result we expect.” Mr Murat said: “I am aware of these reports claiming I will be stood down as an official suspect, but no-one has officially told me anything.
“Naturally I hope that the development is correct because I have always maintained my innocence.”
Dailystar
