Three friends of the parents of Madeleine McCann flew back to Portugal yesterday to help police catch her kidnapper. The group, including two doctors, were questioned by detectives over their accounts of the night the four-year-old girl vanished on May 3.Rachael Oldfield, 36, Russell O’Brien, 36, and Fiona Payne, 34, were dining with the McCanns at a restaurant near the family’s holiday apartment when Madeleine was snatched. The surprise move to fly the three from Britain came as the only official suspect, Robert Murat, spent a second day being interrogated by senior detectives.
Mrs Oldfield, from London, speaking on behalf of all three friends, said: “We are more than happy to help the police. All of us want to do anything we can to help find Madeleine and reunite her with her loving parents. I know that Kate and Gerry are grateful to the Portuguese people for their prayers and tremendous support.”
Mrs Oldfield, Dr O’Brien, from Exeter, and Dr Payne, from Leicester, were among a group of friends, many of them doctors, with whom the McCanns were on holiday.
Murat, 33, a property developer, yesterday underwent another day of questioning in Portimao, about 40 minutes from Praia da Luz Police asked him to return with his lawyer Francisco Pagarete at the same time as the trio of friends, raising the possibility that they were assisting officers with identification.
A police source said: “It was not a case of the McCanns’ friends simply going over their statements. There was a reason why they were present in the station at the same time as Murat.” The source added that police have discovered “new elements” in the investigation that they wanted to put to the only official suspect.
It is thought that they have uncovered discrepancies in his earlier statements about the night of Madeleine’s disappearance and links to witnesses. (Daily Express)
The plot thickens. They appear not to be 'the ex-pats living abroad' as I'd assumed last night, if they've been flown from the UK as the news report claims. There are clearly developments behind the media blackout at the moment. Be interesting to watch the next week or two .... so see how the Pied Piper plays the latest round of smokescreens. We've yet to see the move made by the 'panther' ... or the 'suspect gripped in the jaws of the panther & seared by the flames of mars' ... something significant has yet to occur. Momentum is gathering for a crescendo of silvery deceit. Seemingly more faces are to be interviewed ... and someone charged. The unknown forces have it in their script and they just waiting for the right moment to play that part of the cine film.
