COPS PROBE MADDY CLAIM
EXCLUSIVE MISSING MADELEINE DAY 164 Key witness to be quizzed again Police dig into parents' uni days
Portuguese police are becoming increasingly convinced that Madeleine McCann's body was dumped at sea.
Officers drafted in to revitalise the investigation plan to re-interview a key witness who saw a sailor acting strangely after the tot vanished.
And British police are to delve into the student pasts of Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry.
Last night nanny Charlotte Pennington told how she saw a sailor kicking at something in the hull of his vessel in Praia da Luz, where the McCanns had been staying, two days after their daughter disappeared. Charlotte, who was working at the Mark Warner complex where their holiday flat was, ran to get a friend to see what was happening but, by the time they returned, the boat - and the sailor in yellow fluorescent jacket - had gone.
The next day Charlotte, 20, spotted the man, wearing what she thought was the same jacket, and contacted police.
She said at her home in Leatherhead, Surrey: "I'm pleased they are taking this seriously as it means they aren't just looking at the McCanns as suspects."
Her sighting of the sailor - and his possible involvement - was last night described by one police source as "credible".
Council chief Manuel Borba reckoned the chances of finding Madeleine in the area were now virtually nil. Mr Borba, who spent two weeks searching, insisted: "I personally looked in 40 wells. I'm not going to say that it's impossible the body has been hidden here but I don't believe that it has."
Several new officers started work on the case yesterday unde r the command of Paulo Rebelo. He replaced controversial Goncalo Amaral, 48, taken off the case after his criticism of British police. Mr Rebelo is due to finally receive results from DNA samples from the McCanns' hire car and apartment from the Forensic Science Service in Birmingham in the next few days.
The Portuguese hope they will provide a breakthrough and possibly back their theory that Maddie's parents helped dispose of the three-year-old after she died accidentally. The two deny involvement.
Detectives in Britain are to dig into the couple's backgrounds as far back as their university days. They have been asked to contact former friends and colleagues to establish if there is anything in either's past which may shed light on the case.
The doctors, both 39, from Rothley, Leics, met in Glasgow's Western Infirmary in 1992 after finishing their medical degrees.
The couple, who attended church yesterday with twins Sean and Amelie, two, have had no contact from Portuguese police since they returned to the UK.
A friend said: "Not only are they unaware what is happening regarding their status as suspects but they fear nothing is being done to look for Madeleine."
grant.hodgson@mgn.co.uk
