PORTUGAL: Portuguese police say they have a suspect in kidnapping case of four-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann

Portuguese police identify a suspect in the investigation of the kidnapping of four-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann. Portuguese police have identified a suspect in their investigation of the abduction of a four-year-old British girl, police said on Tuesday (May 15). "There is a suspect," a spokeswoman for the judicial police said but gave no further details. It was not immediately clear if the suspect had been arrested. In Portugal police can identify a suspect without arresting the person. Police on Monday (May 14) searched a villa close to the complex from where Madeleine McCann went missing more than a week ago and took a British man, Robert Murat, away for questioning. Police interviewed Murat, formerly from Hockering, near Norwich, Norfolk, until early on Tuesday as well as two more people whose names were not released. Murat often spoke to reporters in the days just after the disappearance of Madeleine, saying she looked like his daughter in England. His mother's house, "Casa Liliana", is about 150 metres from the resort apartment where the McCann family was staying when their daughter disappeared. British newspaper reporter Laura Campbell said she became suspicious after seeing him several times in the area where McCann was abducted on May 3 and alerted him to police. Campbell, who works for the British tabloid the Daily Mirror, told Reuters: "It was on Monday and I had been at the scene quite a lot over the weekend, on the Saturday and Sunday, and certain things about his behaviour just made me feel uneasy so I spoke to my news desk in London and they said I ought to call the police to pass on my suspicions." On Sunday (May 13), Reuters Television spoke to Murat's mother Jennifer who had set up an impromptu information centre in Praia da Luz to encourage citizens afraid of approaching the police to leave anonymous information. "I just think there's lots of people who might not want to talk to the police," said Jennifer Murat who runs the operation from a mini van. "Maybe they haven't their papers right or maybe they don't want to upset neighbours or something like that so anything I get here goes directly to the police but without a name and the police can't do that," she said. Local television showed images of Murat's house, which had a large green gate. Police were seen leaving the house late on Monday after entering it early in the day. Police drained the swimming pool at the house, according to local media.

ITN Source | May 15, 2007

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