Madeleine McCann: Fresh police action in Portugal

Oct 15 2007

New searches for Madeleine McCann are to be carried out by Portuguese police around the holiday resort where the child was last seen, it was reported today.

Land and a lake within a large radius of the Ocean Club Holiday resort in Praia da Luz - where the youngster vanished on May 3 - are to be examined.

The areas to be covered include the coast between Praia da Luz and the village of Burgau, land between the Ocean Club and the beach, and the forests and isolated villas around the Bravura dam in Odiaxere, according to the Times.

The land was searched early on in the investigation but it is believed searches there were not extensive.

Paulo Rebelo, one of Portugal’s most senior detectives and the new head of the investigation, is thought to have ordered the move.

Police frogmen are expected to start searching the lake, which is two-and-a- half miles wide, later this week, according to the Sun.

Officers are also reportedly planning to examine spots where Madeleine McCann’s parents, Gerry and Kate, and their friends, used their mobile phones.

Last week, Robert Murat, the first person to be declared an official suspect over Madeleine’s disappearance, broke his silence to make a direct plea to the Portuguese Police to finally clear him of suspicion.

Mr Murat was shown speaking briefly in a interview with BBC News. He said: “It’s five months, my savings have gone. Mum is doing what she can. It is just very, very difficult.”

Gerry and Kate McCann were themselves declared arguidos - or official suspects - last month after tests on DNA samples found in their hire car were taken as suggesting Madeleine’s body had been transported in the vehicle.

Like Mr Murat, they strenuously deny any involvement in their daughter’s disappearance.

They are hoping the results of forensic tests will clear their names.