Now Maddy's Parents Friends Hit By Slurs

Daily Express Report; says: ' Family and friends of Madeleine McCann have been hit by new smears in Portugal. Relatives spoke out after Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry and their friends were accused of maintaining a pact of silence over the events of the night the girl was snatched. One report claimed police were concerned over inconsistencies in their statements and were treating the nine as suspects.

Portuguese newspaper Sol said detectives were investigating a possible link between chief suspect Robert Murat and two of the friends who are key witnesses in the case.

The McCanns, from Rothley, Leics, have been unable to defend themselves against allegations of a “cover-up”. Under Portuguese priv­acy laws they are banned from publicly talking about the investigation. But Madeleine’s aunt Philomena McCann said of the family’s mission to find their daughter: “The campaign will go on, whatever anyone says.

The Sol report said Murat, 33, has been asked by detectives if he knew one member of the group – hospital consultant Russell O’Brien, 36. It claimed police spoke to Dr O’Brien after it was discovered the pair were both in Exeter days before Madeleine was kidnapped. Murat spent 10 days in there, arriving back in the Algarve on May 1 – 48 hours before Madeleine was snatched. Dr O’Brien and his partner Jane Tanner, also 36, moved to a rented home in the city four weeks earlier.

Miss Tanner was the key witness who saw a man rushing away from the Ocean Club resort carrying a child wrapped in a blanket. Dr O’Brien told police he saw Murat near the McCann’s holiday apartment that night. He was one of three friends of the couple who confronted Murat two weeks ago in a showdown set up by police. Dr O’Brien, Fiona Payne and Rachael Oldfield were allowed to challenge Murat’s version of events.

Murat insists he met Dr O’Brien only after Madeleine’s abduction, when offering his services to family and police.

Find Madeleine campaign manager Justine McGuinness said last night: “It is absolutely not the case that anyone in the party with the McCanns had ever met Robert Murat before they went on holiday.”'


Nothing news in the information 'revealed' here. It is relating to previous 'slurs'. However, the suggests fresh events have unfolded in Portugal, but the Media is apparently not privy to the information; or able to reveal it here. At this moment in time . It may come out later ... as old news.