Saturday, October 30, 2010

Portuguese police to fly to Britain and interrogate Tapas Nine

Last updated at 11:18 28 March 2008

Portugal's top police officer has given investigators in the Madeleine McCann case the go-ahead to fly to Britain and question the so-called Tapas Nine.
Policia Judiciaria national director Alipio Ribeiro reportedly told detectives to get ready for a make-or-break trip to solve the mystery of Madeleine's disappearance in a phone call yesterday to Algarve police chief Guilhermino Encarnacao.
Paulo Rebelo, the chief investigator in the case, will travel to Britain on April 7 with questions for the friends of the McCann family who were eating tapas when Madeleine disappeared last May.
It's likely he will be joined by Ricardo Paiva and Luis Viriato, two chief inspectors that accompanied Rebelo to Britain last November to meet with DNA experts.
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Fiona Payne, Jane Tanner, Russell O' Brien and Rachael Oldfield were dining with the McCanns Interrogation: (clockwise from top left) Fiona Payne, Jane Tanner, Russell O' Brien, Rachael Oldfield
The date was proposed by Portuguese police chiefs after meetings with Leicestershire Detective Superintendent Stuart Prior in the Algarve earlier this month.
But British detectives are yet to confirm the visit, although they plan to question the group of friends.
David Payne, Russell O'Brien and his partner Jane Tanner are rumoured to be the first three McCann holiday friends to be questioned.
A source told Portuguese daily 24 horas, which yesterday claimed British and Algarve police had now agreed the April 7 date: 'We are at a crucial phase of the process.
'There are clear contradictions in the statements that the McCanns and their friends who were eating tapas with them on May 3, gave.
'British police are going to question them again and put to them the questions formulated by the Portuguese Public Prosecution Service.
'The need to question Madeleine's parents again will be determined by the results of the interrogations of their holiday friends.'
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Gerry and Kate McCann Gerry and Kate McCann hope their missing daughter Madeleine will be found alive
Dr Payne, a 41-year-old cardiovascular researcher from Leicester, was the last person outside the McCann family to see Madeleine at the Ocean Club resort on May 3.
Gerry asked him to check on his wife and children while he was having a tennis lesson at about 6.30pm.
Dr O'Brien, 36, from Exeter, was away from the rest of the group for up to 45 minutes between 9.30pm until 10.15pm while he tended to his own child, who was being sick in his apartment.
Attention has also focused on Jane Tanner's claim she saw a man carrying a girl from the McCanns' ground-floor apartment at about 9.15pm the night she disappeared.
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Madeleine Madeleine McCann went missing last May in Portugal
However, another witness says he was outside the flat at the same time but did not see her or the mystery man.
The trio deny claims their initial statements contained any contradictions.
The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell says the Tapas Nine are keen to help police understand their original statements and want the re-interviewing to take place as soon as possible.
A Lisbon-based press spokesman for the Policia Judiciaria today refused to comment.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-548109/Portuguese-police-fly-Britain-interrogate-Tapas-Nine.html#ixzz13pXJF9Ov

Madeleine: British police meet Portuguese detectives to plan fresh interviews with Tapas Nine

By NEIL SEARS
Last updated at 00:31 07 March 2008

British police have met Portuguese detectives to plan new interviews with the group of friends who dined with Gerry and Kate McCann on the night their daughter Madeleine disappeared.
Portuguese police continue to believe the so-called Tapas Nine - the McCanns and their seven friends - could still hold the solution to the unsolved mystery that began in May last year.
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Maddy Madeleine was three when she went missing from her family's holiday apartment while her parents ate dinner 50 yards away
And Leicestershire Police said yesterday that Detective Superintendent Stuart Prior had returned from the Algarve after three days of meetings with counterparts in Portugal about how fresh interviews would be conducted.
Madeleine was three when she went missing from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz while her parents ate dinner at a tapas bar 50 yards away with their friends from England.
Portuguese detectives, who have been widely criticised for their failure to find any solid evidence or charge anyone, remain unsatisfied by the witness accounts given by the so-called Tapas Nine, as they try to establish a timeline of events on that evening.
Leicestershire Police said Det Supt Prior flew to Portugal to discuss the issue of mutual legal assistance, the process whereby evidence is gathered in one country to help an investigation in another.
A Leicestershire police spokeswoman said: "Since Madeleine's disappearance, we, together with other law enforcement agencies, have been working closely with the Portuguese authorities.
"Mr Prior has attended a series of meetings with his Portuguese counterparts. He travelled to Portugal on Tuesday and returned this morning.
"He went to discuss how the request for mutual legal assistance is to be executed, and to seek clarification over elements of the request."
The process could involve Portuguese police writing questions to be put to the friends on their behalf by their British counterparts.
But officers involved in the investigation in the Algarve also fly to Britain to sit in on the interviews, which are likely to be held at a location in Leicestershire.
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tapas nine. Fiona Payne, Jane Tanner, Russell O' Brien, Rachael Oldfield Fiona Payne, Jane Tanner, Russell O' Brien and Rachael Oldfield were dining with the McCanns
The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: 'The sooner this re-interviewing takes place the better.
"The friends are very keen to help police understand their original statements. No one will be changing their story.
"We are not aware that Kate and Gerry are to be re-interviewed at this stage, but if so, that's not an issue."
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mccanns Portuguese police continue to believe the so-called Tapas Nine - the McCanns and their seven friends - could still hold the solution to Maddy's disappearance
The McCanns, from Rothley in Leicestershire, were joined at the tapas restaurant on by Dr Matthew Oldfield and his recruitment consultant wife Rachael, Dr Russell O'Brien and his partner Jane Tanner, and medical researcher David Payne, his wife Fiona, and her mother Dianne Webster.
A Home Office spokeswoman said: "We have already confirmed that we have received a mutual legal assistance request from the Portuguese authorities in connection with the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
"We are currently awaiting clarification from the Portuguese authorities over elements of the request.
"Home Office officials continue to work closely with the police to assist the Portuguese authorities with this investigation."
British expat Robert Murat, 34, a sometime estate agent, was made an official suspect two weeks into the inquiry when police suddenly swooped on the villa he shares with his mother less than 100 yards from the McCanns' holiday flat.
He has not been charged, but remains under official suspicion.
Portuguese Police later made Gerry and Kate McCann themselves their chief targets, but again no charges have followed.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-527990/Madeleine-British-police-meet-Portuguese-detectives-plan-fresh-interviews-Tapas-Nine.html#ixzz13pWmq5Mr

British and Portuguese Madeleine police meet to discuss re-interviewing Tapas Nine

Last updated at 16:36 06 March 2008

Madeleine red dress Madeleine has been missing since May 3
British and Portuguese police are discussing plans to re-interview the friends who dined with Madeleine McCann's parents on the day she disappeared.
Meetings have taken place in the Algarve about how fresh interviews would be carried out.
Leicestershire Detective Superintendent Stuart Prior returned from discussions with counterparts in Portugal today.
Madeleine went missing from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on May 3 last year while Gerry and Kate McCann ate dinner at a nearby tapas bar with friends.
Detectives have focused on the witness accounts given by the group, the so-called "Tapas Nine", to try to establish a timeline of events on that evening.
Mr Prior flew to Portugal to discuss mutual legal assistance - the process where evidence is gathered in one country to help an investigation in another.
A Leicestershire police spokeswoman said: "Since Madeleine's disappearance, we, together with other law enforcement agencies, have been working closely with the Portuguese authorities.
"Mr Prior has attended a series of meetings with his Portuguese counterparts. He travelled to Portugal on Tuesday and returned this morning.
"He went to discuss how the request for mutual legal assistance is to be executed and to seek clarification over elements of the request."
The process itself could involve Portuguese police writing questions to be put to the friends on their behalf by their British counterparts.
Officers involved in the investigation in the Algarve could still fly to Britain to sit in on the interviews, which are likely to be held at a location in Leicestershire.
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tapas nine. Fiona Payne, Jane Tanner, Russell O' Brien, Rachael Oldfield Tapas Nine: Fiona Payne, Jane Tanner, Russell O' Brien and Rachael Oldfield are likely to be re-interviewed
The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "The sooner this re-interviewing takes place the better.
"The friends are very keen to help police understand their original statements. No one will be changing their story.
"We are not aware that Kate and Gerry are to be re-interviewed at this stage, but if so, that's not an issue."
The McCanns, from Rothley in Leicestershire, were joined at the tapas restaurant on May 3 by Jane Tanner, Dianne Webster, Matthew and Rachael Oldfield, Russell O'Brien and David and Fiona Payne.
A Home Office spokeswoman said: "We have already confirmed that we have received a mutual legal assistance request from the Portuguese authorities in connection with the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
"We are currently awaiting clarification from the Portuguese authorities over elements of the request.
"Home Office officials continue to work closely with the police to assist the Portuguese authorities with this investigation."


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-527864/British-Portuguese-Madeleine-police-meet-discuss-interviewing-Tapas-Nine.html#ixzz13pV1uItH

Madeleine police to come to Britain to re-interview Tapas Nine

Last updated at 13:55 28 February 2008

Portuguese police will arrive in Britain within the next ten days to reinterview friends of Kate and Gerry McCann over the disappearance of their four-year-old daughter, Madeleine.
David Payne, Jane Tanner and her partner Russell O'Brien are set to be quizzed first in a last-ditch attempt by cops to crack the mystery. Police will then decide whether to requestion other members of the so-called Tapas Nine, it was claimed.
The news came as a Portuguese taxi driver told how he picked up Madeleine McCann with a blonde woman who looked like Kate McCann and three men including one who looked like suspect Robert Murat the night of her disappearance.
Antonio Castela, 67, said he dropped off the missing girl and her English-speaking mystery companions at an Algarve hotel and watched them drive off in a blue jeep.
He insisted he was "100 per cent sure" his passengers included Madeleine, four, saying he even noticed her famous eye defect as his son had a similar defect.
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Madeleine McCann Madeleine has been missing since May 3 last year
Antonio Castela insists he saw Madeleine on the night she disappeared
"She was with three men, one of whom looked like Robert Murat, and a blonde woman," he said.
"The blonde woman with them looked to me like Madeleine's mother but I couldn't say whether or not it was her," he added.
"I even noticed the girl's eye defect, as my son, who is a police officer, has a similar defect in his eye.
"When I saw the news on the television I was stunned and I turned to my wife and said: 'I had that little girl in my car!'
"I went back to the hotel and told them and asked if they had CCTV cameras. They said they did, but they were broken so there was no footage.
"I told the Judicial Police but they never took me seriously and told me I must have been mistaken.
Robert Murat Robert Murat is one of the three suspects in the case
"But I know what I saw and I'm sure I saw Madeleine.
"I believe she must have been smuggled abroad. It has been on my mind ever since."
Castela, a taxi driver for the past 17 years, said he picked the group up at at a taxi rank in Monte Gordo an hour's drive east of Praia da Luz where Kate and Gerry McCann were holidaying with their three children on the evening of May 3. He was certain about the timing, he said, as it was approaching the end of his shift.
He claimed Madeleine was wearing a pair of pink pyjamas and sat on the lap of one of the two men.
They asked him to drive them to the Apolo Hotel in the nearby town of Vila Real de Santo Antonio, a 15 minute drive from Portugal's southern border with Spain.
And the only one words one of the men uttered at the end of the two and a half mile journey was "How Much?" in English when it was time to pay, Mr Castela told Jornal do Algarve in an exclusive interview.
He told the paper the jeep the group got into in the hotel car park had a yellow UK-style number plate.
He is thought to have informed police after being told they were not staying at the hotel and seeing news of Madeleine's disappearance on TV.
Mr Castela is said to have picked up the group just after 8pm local time.
Madeleine's parents - official police suspects - first raised the alarm around 10pm although the last public sighting of Madeleine is believed to have been at least four hours earlier.
Jane Tanner, one of the friends who was eating tapas with Madeleine's parents the night she disappeared, has told how she saw a man carrying a little girl in pink pijamas in his arms near the McCanns' Ocean Club apartment the night the youngster went missing. She told police she saw the man from behind but was able to give a description of what he and the child was wearing.
The 38-year-old marketing executive claims she saw the pair about 40 minutes before Madeleine's parents raised the alarm.
Portuguese police have said they believe there are inconsistencies in the statements of some of the so-called Tapas Nine and have asked for permission to interview some of them again in Britain.
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kate gerry mccann arm around each other looking exhausted Kate and Gerry McCann are also suspects in their daughter's disappearance
UK authorities are currently considering the request.
The McCanns and Robert Murat - the third official suspect or arguido in the Madeleine McCann case - all deny any wrongdoing.
GP Kate and heart specialist Gerry, both 39 and from Rothley, Leics, believe their daughter was abducted by paedophiles and may have been smuggled across Portugal's border with Spain before being taken to north Africa.
Portuguese police chief Alipio Ribeiro recently admitted officers had been "hasty" in making the McCanns suspects.
The taxi driver's wife Gloria said: "My husband has consistently said the same thing for the past ten months.
"A journalist from the local paper heard the story from someone who knows my husband.
"The reporter approached my husband and asked to do an interview.
"That is why the story has only just come out now."


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-520929/Madeleine-police-come-Britain-interview-Tapas-Nine.html#ixzz13pUab0VU

Madeleine: Witnesses may have mistaken suspect Robert Murat for his British 'double'

By VANESSA ALLEN
Last updated at 13:32 24 January 2008

Eight key witnesses who told police they saw Robert Murat on the night Madeleine McCann vanished could have named the wrong man, it was revealed yesterday.
A British businessman with access to the Ocean Club complex where she disappeared looks so similar to the police suspect that even Mr Murat admitted: "It could be me."
His lawyer is now set to investigate whether the eight witnesses who said they saw Mr Murat on May 3 could have mistaken the other British expat, Angus Symington, for him.
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Robert Murat Angus Symington split Lookalikes: Robert Murat (left) and Angus Symington (right) are the same build and height, both British and both working in property in Praia da Luz
The astonishing likeness between the two men could cast doubt on the witnesses' evidence, which contradicts Mr Murat's alibi that he was at home all night with his elderly mother.
The contradictions were believed to have been a key reason why the father-of-one was named as an official suspect, or arguido, in the investigation on May 14.
Mr Murat, 34, was shown a photograph of Mr Symington and said: "I'm shocked, I'm amazed by the likeness.
"The hairline and the nose, it could be me. Only the chin is different.
"I will show this photograph to my lawyer and I hope he will raise it with the Policia Judiciaria."
There is no suggestion that Mr Symington was involved in Madeleine's disappearance and he is not a suspect in the case.
He sells and manages properties around Praia da Luz, including the Ocean Club, and had legitimate reasons to be in the town on May 3.
His office at Ocean Country Real Estate is a few hundred yards from Kate and Gerry McCann's holiday apartment in the resort, which his father co-founded and still co-owns.
Mr Symington and Mr Murat are of similar age, height and build, both share British backgrounds and they both wear similar glasses.
Mr Murat's uncle Ralph Eveleigh was shown Mr Symington's photograph and exclaimed: "Bloody hell, it's Robert! They're very similar."
But Mr Murat's hopes that the likeness could help him clear his name were dealt a blow last night when Mr Symington said he left Praia da Luz at 6pm on May 3 and was seven miles away at the time of the witness sightings, between 10pm and midnight.
He said: "I categorically wasn't around on the night she vanished. I was at home with my family.
Madeleine 228 sunhat Still missing: Madeleine has not been seen since May 3, 2007
"I left Praia da Luz at 6pm on May 3 to go home. I live 10km away from here, so I was not in or around Luz that night. It couldn't have been me."
The Mail told earlier this month how detectives believed the witnesses could also have mistaken a friend of the McCanns, David Payne, for Mr Murat.
The 41-year-old medical researcher was out searching for Madeleine when the eight witnesses reported seeing Mr Murat, in the hours after Mrs McCann raised the alarm.
But the witnesses included Mr Payne's wife Fiona and their friends Russell O'Brien and Rachael Oldfield, who are unlikely to have mistaken the two men.
The other witnesses were Mark Warner nanny Charlotte Pennington, who said she saw Mr Murat hanging around outside the Ocean Club's reception at about 10pm, and British holiday-maker Jayne Jensen, an unnamed British barrister and two unidentified British tourists who all claim to have seen him around the complex that night.
Mr Murat's lawyer Francisco Pagarete said: "Robert has always said the witnesses were mistaken. He was not there that night."
Mr and Mrs McCann's spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "We are confident the accounts of witnesses were given in good faith."


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-510083/Madeleine-Witnesses-mistaken-suspect-Robert-Murat-British-double.html#ixzz13pUAXpvt

Blood found in McCanns' hire car 'DID come from Madeleine'

Last updated at 22:46 08 January 2008

Traces of blood found in Gerry and Kate McCanns' hire car and holiday flat DID belong to Madeleine, it has been claimed.
It reflects detectives' belief that she is dead and her parents disposed of her body.
Tests carried out at a UK laboratory confirmed beyond doubt that the blood was that of the toddler, a Portuguese newspaper reported.
The McCanns have always insisted there were innocent explanations for the traces found behind the sofa at the Ocean club apartment in Praia da Luz and in the boot of the Renault Scenic they hired there 25 days after Madeleine vanished on May 3.
They have had independent DNA tests on the car which they say revealed no trace of Madeleine and are understood to be distressed by the reports which they categorically deny.
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Hire car: Kate and Gerry McCann maintain that they are innocent
They claim that the DNA could be linked to Madeleine's siblings, two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie.
But the respected Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manha reported yesterday: "The definitive result of the tests leave no doubts for the Policia Judiciaria.
"The blood found in the McCanns' car is that of Madeleine as well as those samples detected in the flat."
Detectives in Portugal asked British scientists to carry out new tests after initial ones by the Forensic Science Service laboratory in Birmingham proved inconclusive.

Missing: Madeleine McCann
It is understood that they are using a new technique called low copy number analysis, which allows them to find a genetic fingerprint from a tiny sample.
The samples from the flat and the hire car were said to be damaged and of low quality, but police sources now claim the latest results are definitive.
Portuguese detectives plan to travel to Britain in the coming weeks to reinterview the McCanns and the friends they were dining with at a tapas restaurant on the night Madeleine vanished.
Yesterday Dr Russell O'Brien and his partner Jane Tanner were named as the two friends reported last year to have told police they wanted to change their account of that evening.
Ms Tanner, 37, from Exeter, says she saw a mystery man carrying a child away from the flat at 9.15pm on the night Madeleine vanished.
Police were said to believe Dr O'Brien, 36, wanted to change his statement to claim he also saw the man, newspaper 24 Horas reported.
But staff at the restaurant say Ms Tanner was at the table througout the meal and only left after Kate came running in shouting, "They've taken her", the newspaper reported.
Dr O'Brien and Ms Tanner have denied contacting police to change their stories and sources close to the McCanns support that posistion.
Portuguese police believe Madeleine died in an accident and that Kate and Gerry conspired with their friends to dispose of the body.
Police sources claim the couple could be charged with manslaughter as well as hiding a body and wasting police time.
Kate and Gerry deny involvement in their daughter's disappearance.
They have had independent DNA tests on the car which they say revealed no trace of Madeleine.
Last night, their spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "These reports are very distressing for Kate and Gerry - they are depressed that again wild rumour and speculation is being presented as fact.
"We wish Portuguese police would just get on with their investigation, come over to England and carry out the interviews with Kate and Gerry and their friends. All those interviews will prove, yet again, that Kate and Gerry have nothing to hide.
"As for the supposed DNA testing, we cannot comment on yet more unsubstantiated rampant speculation in the Portuguese press.
"It is ridiculous to suggest that Madeleine's blood was in the their car because she was never in it.
"It was hired more than 20 days after she went missing, which means it was impossible for her to have ever been in it.
"Kate and Gerry were in no way involved in her death. Nor were they involved in disposing of her body.
"To suggest otherwise is ridiculous. This report is flying in the face of all other articles which reported that the DNA and forensic tests were inconclusive.
"If there had been anything found, I would have thought there would have been more urgent activity on behalf of the Portuguese police than there has been.
"We have been waiting months now for them to come to England to carry out their re-interviewing.
"Anything the police feel may give them cause for concern can be wholly and innocently explained.
"But until we actually see the official FSS report, we have no idea what it contains, and I suggest the Portuguese press don't either."


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-506725/Blood-McCanns-hire-car-DID-come-Madeleine.html#ixzz13pTQqPgJ

Madeleine witnesses 'may have mistaken this friend of the McCanns for Murat' on night she disappeared

By VANESSA ALLEN
Last updated at 08:10 08 January 2008

Doubt was cast on the evidence of several key witnesses in the Madeleine McCann disappearance last night.
Those who said they saw suspect Robert Murat outside the family's holiday apartment on the night she vanished may have named the wrong man, it was revealed.
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Murat mix-up? Witnesses who say they saw suspect Robert Murat (right) outside Madeleine McCann's apartment on the night she vanished may actually have seen David Payne (left) a friend of the McCanns
Detectives believe the witnesses who said they saw the British expat could have confused him with a friend of Kate and Gerry McCann, David Payne, who was out searching for the missing three-year-old.
If true, the claim could force police into a rethink of their eight-month investigation.
Mr Murat, 34, has insisted he spent the night of May 3 at home in the villa he shares with his mother Jennifer, 72, less than 100 yards from the McCanns' holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal. His mother said he never left the house.
But a series of witnesses have given statements claiming to have seen him around the Ocean Club apartment complex in the hours after Mrs McCann, 39, raised the alarm.
They include three friends of the McCanns - Russell O'Brien, Fiona Payne and Rachael Oldfield - who later confronted Mr Murat at a police station after he was made a suspect and said he offered to help them search that night.
Mark Warner nanny Charlotte Pennington said she saw him hanging around outside the Ocean Club's reception at about 10pm.
British holidaymaker Jayne Jensen, an unnamed British barrister and two unidentified British tourists all claim to have seen him around the complex that night.
But none of them knew the 34-year-old property consultant before that night.
Police are examining the theory that they could have confused him with Mr Payne.
The medical researcher, who is 41, was searching around the complex that night and - in a street lit by orange streetlights - could easily have been mistaken for Mr Murat.
Mr Murat's lawyer Francisco Pagarete told the Daily Mail: "Robert has always said the witnesses were mistaken. He was not there that night."
A source close to the inquiry said: "The similarity between the two has rendered many witness accounts virtually worthless."
But he added: "What is baffling is that Mr Payne's wife and two of his friends are among those who claim to have seen Mr Murat outside the McCanns' apartment that night. You'd think a wife would recognise her own husband."
The Paynes were unavailable for comment. They are due to be reinterviewed by British police on behalf of their Portuguese counterparts within weeks.
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Madeleine Madeleine mystery: The case is no closer to being resolved eight months after the four-year-old went missing
Detectives want to question all seven of the friends who were on holiday with the McCanns about alleged contradictions in their accounts of the events of May 3.
Mr and Mrs McCann's spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "We are confident the accounts of witnesses were given in good faith."
Mr Murat's girlfriend Michaela Walczuch was yesterday forced to deny claims she had been named as a police suspect in the case.
The Portuguese newspaper 24 Horas claimed the mother-of-one, 34, had been made an 'arguido', or formal suspect, alongside Mr Murat and the McCanns.
Lawyer Mr Pagarete insisted he had been misquoted by the tabloid when discussing her. Police refused to confirm or deny the report.
A second newspaper, Correio da Manha, claimed tests by the Forensic Science Service in Birmingham had proved DNA found in the McCanns' holiday apartment and hire car was Madeleine's.
Such a finding would support the Portuguese police theory that Madeleine died in an accident in her parents' care and that they faked her abduction. The McCanns deny any involvement in her disappearance.
An FSS spokesman said, however: "Tests are still being carried out. No final report has been submitted to the Portuguese authorities."