Madeleine McCann: Parents deny involvement in her disappearance

Sep 9 2007

The parents of missing toddler Madeleine McCann today returned to the UK and repeated their assertion that they played no part in the disappearance of their daughter.

Gerry and Kate McCann touched down at East Midlands airport at around 12.20 this afternoon and read a prepared statement.

Mr McCann said: “Whilst it is heartbreaking to return to the UK without Madeleine, it does not mean we are giving up our search.

“As parents we cannot give up on our daughter until we know what has happened.”

The McCanns returned to the UK after they were named as formal suspects by Portuguese police.

Mr McCann said: “Portuguese law prohibits us from commenting further on the police investigation.

Then his voice breaking, Mr McCann added: “Despite there being so much we wish to say, we are unable to do so, except to say this: we played no part in the disappearance of our lovely daughter Madeleine.”

Mr McCann, speaking alongside his wife and twins, added that their return to Britain has the full agreement of the Portuguese authorities.

He called on the media to respect the family’s privacy now they have returned home.

“We want the twins, as much as is reasonably possible, to live an ordinary life in their home country,” he said, “and we want to consider the events of the last few days which have been so deeply disturbing.”

The McCanns have no bail conditions attached to their arguido status and still retain their passports.

But police could in theory apply for a court to impose movement restrictions on them.

Several weeks ago the couple made provisional plans to return to the UK with Sean and Amelie today. But they put this on hold after Portuguese police summoned them back in for questioning this week and made them arguidos.

Family friends said yesterday the couple intended to remain in the Algarve for the time being to “help the police”, but were taking legal advice on whether they could return to the UK.

Now in a sudden turnabout they have reinstated the original plans. Mr McCann’s sister Philomena, 43, spoke to her brother on the telephone yesterday, just hours after he left a Portuguese police station following eight hours of questioning.

She said the family still hoped to leave Portugal and return to Britain within days, but were worried about how it would be interpreted.

“Gerry is saying he doesn’t want it to look like they are running scared,” she added.

“He doesn’t want it too look as if they are running away, because that is nonsense.”

The announcement of the family’s return comes after a series of dramatic developments in the case.

On Monday detectives telephoned Mr McCann to summon him and his wife in for further questioning. On Thursday Mrs McCann went to the headquarters of the Policia Judiciaria (PJ) - Portugal’s CID - in the Algarve town of Portimao and underwent 11 hours of questioning.

During the interview detectives suggested that traces of Madeleine’s blood were found in the family’s hire car, a silver Renault Scenic.

Mrs McCann is understood to have told them angrily there was “no way” this could be the case because they did not lease the vehicle until 25 days after her daughter disappeared.

She returned to the police station on Friday and was formally declared an arguida.

Detectives asked her 22 key questions about what happened to Madeleine, including if she accidentally killed her.

The 39-year-old GP now fears she will be charged over Madeleine’s death, a family friend said. Mr McCann, 39, was interviewed separately for eight hours the same day, and was also made an arguido. Portuguese detectives appear to be working on the theory that Mrs McCann killed her daughter by accident and covered up the death by claiming she was abducted.

Test results from the Forensic Science Service in Birmingham received in recent days have apparently boosted this hypothesis. Mr McCann’s alleged role is not clear, but sources said police believe he was an accessory to the killing.

The McCanns, who strenuously protest their innocence, are said to be “in a state of shock but also extraordinarily angry” about Portuguese detectives’ line of questioning.

The family arrived at the airport’s VIP entrance, away from the main terminal building.

Most of the media were waiting outside the main entrance to the departures lounge, but about a small group of photographers and camera crews captured the McCann’s arrival.

Mr McCann, who was at the wheel of the car, looked grim-faced as he drove through two security barriers into a sealed-off compound.

The family checked in and cleared security by 8.30am, an airport official said, adding that the flight was scheduled to leave on time.

In Liverpool, Susan Healy, Kate McCann’s mother, described the situation in Portugal as ludicrous.

Speaking from her home in Liverpool, Mrs Healy said: “Anybody who knows Kate and Gerry knows it is absolutely ludicrous; I just can’t describe it any other way.

“Kate and Gerry are relying on the Portuguese police but there is an uncomfortable feeling that they are not necessarily looking outwards for Madeleine but towards them.”

On the speculation that her daughter may be charged by Portuguese police, she added: “There are some questions which the Portuguese police are not allowed to ask unless the suspect has been charged.

“Kate and Gerry will answer any questions, it is in their own interests.

“But I don’t know if either of them has asked to be made a suspect.”

Kate’s father Brian Healy added that so many reports were coming out of Portugal it was hard for them to distinguish fact from speculation.

He said: “We are going to wait and see what happens later today.”

Jon Corner, a family friend who lives in Liverpool, said: “I did speak to Kate in the early hours of this morning and clearly she is stunned and disappointed.

“Really disappointed, not only to be at this stage a suspect but I think the realisation that they’re not actually looking for Madeleine. I think is almost a double whammy.”