Gerry and Kate: It could be her

By NICK PARKER
Chief Foreign Correspondent, in Lisbon
and ANTONELLA LAZZERI
September 26, 2007

KATE and Gerry McCann were shown the dramatic Maddie “sighting” photo last night and said: “It could be her.”

The missing girl’s desperate parents called on Interpol to press ahead with an urgent investigation into the snap, taken in Morocco.

A source close to the couple said: “This is a very promising lead. It’s certainly significant enough for it to have been brought to the immediate attention of authorities.” The source added: “Kate and Gerry can’t be sure it’s Madeleine because of the quality of the image.

“But they can’t be sure it’s not her either.”

The McCanns’ official spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: “Gerry and Kate now hope it will be thoroughly analysed and its significance properly assessed.”

The couple, of Rothley, Leics, were further buoyed by ANOTHER possible sighting in Morocco revealed yesterday.

A mother insisted she saw frightened Maddie being dragged across a road by a local-looking woman wearing a headscarf.



Riddle ... group of women with girl and man pushing luggage were snapped by a tourist



She said it was soon after the four-year-old vanished from her family’s holiday apartment in Portugal in May.

And she added: “I saw her face very clearly from close up and I know it was Madeleine. She looked very sad and scared and was wearing a skirt and sleeveless top with her blonde hair tied up.”

The mum told cops in the Spanish enclave in Morocco where she lives — and later called Portuguese police as she feared no action was being taken.

But she was told by the Portuguese force: “It can’t have been Madeleine because we believe she’s dead.”

The mother’s claim and the photo takes the number of sightings of Maddie in Morocco to FOUR. The sudden developments came as:

A SOURCE close to the case revealed Portuguese cops — convinced Kate and Gerry were involved in Maddie’s disappearance — gave up hope of finding her alive after just a week.


Search ... missing Madeleine has
fair skin and distinctive locks


HOLIDAY pals of Kate and Gerry were rocked by a cruel slur suggesting sniffer dogs had found the “scent of death” on their clothes, and

GERRY declared he was “confident” he and Kate would soon be eliminated as suspects.

The Spanish mum, who asked not to be named, told how she and her husband were in their 4x4 in Zaio, north Morocco. She said:

We were driving slowly as there were lots of people around. Suddenly a woman wearing a headscarf walked out in the road in front of us without really looking.

She was walking very fast and dragging a young blonde girl with her. The girl was wearing a large sun hat which blew up in a gust of wind as she crossed the road.

I shouted, ‘It’s the girl from the television’ to my husband and ordered him to stop. I saw the girl perfectly but the woman turned her face away.

My husband said, ‘What’s that little blonde girl doing with a Moroccan woman?’ I shouted, ‘Stop — it’s Madeleine.’ But by the time we pulled over and ran back to where she had crossed they had both vanished.

The mum first reported the incident to police when she returned to her home in Melilla. She later phoned Portuguese cops but said: “They refused to take me seriously.”

She added: “I am totally convinced it was Madeleine and cannot believe it was not even investigated.” A British man and a Norwegian tourist have previously reported seeing Maddie in Marrakech.

And the Spanish mum said: “After we spotted Madeleine I saw a blonde woman with a man with dark hair, very light skin, aged 40 to 45 and about 1.70 metres tall. Those are the same descriptions by the people in Marrakech.”


Map ... North African sightings
Click picture to enlarge

Maddie vanished from the Algarve resort of Praia da

THE McCanns’ holiday pals last night faced a police grilling over an alleged cover-up of Madeleine’s death.

Detectives in Portugal want to re-interview the friends who were dining with Gerry and Kate on the night their daughter went missing.

They include Jane Tanner, 36, who told police she saw a mystery man carrying a child in a blanket through Praia da Luz 30 minutes before Kate discovered Madeleine was missing.

Hauled

Her hospital consultant partner Russell O’Brien, 36, who said he saw Brit ex-pat suspect Robert Murat, 33, outside the apartment, also faces being re-interviewed.

Two other pals who claimed they saw Murat, Dr Fiona Payne, 34, and Rachel Oldfield, 36, could also be hauled back to the Algarve.

Murat insists he never left his mum’s villa 100 yards away from the holiday complex that night.
Detectives want to know why the friends placed him near the crime scene and have admitted
publicly they are baffled by “inconsistencies” in their sworn statements.

Police also want to speak to friends because the McCanns can now opt to remain silent as official suspects. And officers want to scrutinise Gerry and Kate’s versions of events in the light of new forensic evidence.


e-mails between the McCanns and some of their friends have raised “suspicions” they knew the girl was dead.

According to Portuguese newspapers, e-mails between the McCanns and some of their friends have raised “suspicions” they knew the girl was dead.

Portuguese police spokesman Chief Insp Olegario Sousa has long believed more than one person was involved in her disappearance.

And he predicted “more suspects” would emerge after DNA tests were
completed.

Probing

Other reports last night claimed police are probing if Gerry McCann had met Murat in the past.
It was claimed the two suspects knew each other in Leicestershire when Gerry was campaigning for the Labour Party.

Last night a key witness, ex-pat Pamela Fenn, 81, said she believed the McCanns were far from perfect parents.
She has told police that two days before Madeleine disappeared that she was kept awake by the child screaming for her father until 11.45pm.

Pamela refused to talk about her evidence, but said: “Gerry McCann has the audacity to say: ‘We
are not responsible for Madeleine going missing.’

“I thought: ‘You have the biggest responsibility. They are your children.’
“I hope to God they are not guilty. I think it would be horrific.”

Madeleine may be dead, police say

Madeleine disappeared while her parents were having dinner nearby


Police interview
Police in Portugal have acknowledged for the first time that missing Madeleine McCann may be dead.
Speaking to the BBC, one of the detectives leading the investigation said new evidence had given "intensity" to the possibility she was killed.

Chief Inspector Olegario Sousa said Kate and Gerry McCann were not being considered as suspects following recent rumours they were under suspicion.

Madeleine vanished 100 days ago in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz.

Forensic scientists

Mr Sousa said renewed searches by detectives with British sniffer dogs have revealed clues which could point to Madeleine's death.

He was referring to traces of blood found inside the apartment room where Madeleine was sleeping, which are now being analysed by forensic scientists in Britain.


A service was held marking 100 days since Madeleine vanished

Mr Sousa refused to confirm or deny reports in Portuguese newspapers that the sniffer dogs had detected odours of a dead body that had been in the apartment.

The police spokesman made it clear that other lines of inquiry have not been ruled out.

He said Kate and Gerry McCann and their friends who had been on holiday with them were not being treated as suspects.

And he said witnesses might be interviewed again depending on the results of the forensic tests.

'Journey of hope'

Under Portuguese law, police are not normally allowed to speak publicly about the details of an investigation.

A spokeswoman for the McCann family said: "It is obviously heartening that the police in Portugal have finally confirmed that Kate and Gerry McCann are not suspects following the hurtful and unhelpful comments that have been made this week.

"Kate and Gerry understand that the police in Portugal are working hard to do everything in their power to find Madeleine McCann.

"They continue to hope and pray that Madeleine is still alive."

Mr Sousa spoke after Kate and Gerry McCann attended a church service marking 100 days since Madeleine's disappearance.

The church of Nossa Senhora da Luz was packed with holidaymakers and locals, many wearing green and yellow to symbolise hope.


A piper in Glasgow and Madeleine's grandmother Eileen McCann

Kate McCann asked the congregation to "stay with" her and her family as they continued their "journey of hope" and to keep Madeleine in their prayers.

When the couple came out of the church they were greeted by loud applause from waiting holidaymakers and residents.

In recent days they have been forced to deny allegations they were somehow involved in Madeleine's disappearance.

Francisco Pagarete, the lawyer of the only suspect in the disappearance Robert Murat, has criticised her parents' alleged "strange" behaviour on the night she vanished.

Madeleine's grandparents Brian and Susan Healey manned a stall in the city centre of Liverpool, where they live, on Saturday asking for donations.

Mrs Healy, 62, said, "It's been very hard this week."

Lament

There are also prayers and pledges of support being said on Saturday by sports stars, including England rugby star Jonny Wilkinson, jockey Frankie Dettori and Everton Football Club.

Teams in the Premiership have been wearing T-shirts with Madeleine's image during their pre-match warm ups.

Among the international events is a Mass being held in the pilgrimage town of Lourdes, France.

And a lone piper played a specially written lament for the missing girl at an international bagpipe event in Glasgow.

The four-year-old disappeared from the apartment room at the Praia da Luz resort on 3 May while her parents were eating with friends at a nearby restaurant.