McCann family’s friends vow to help find Madeleine

Jul 12 2007 Liverpool Daily Post

CLOSE friends of Madeleine McCann’s parents yesterday vowed to do "anything" they could to help find her as they were called back in for interview by police in Portugal.

Three members of the party who were on holiday with the McCanns in May when Madeleine was snatched returned to a police station in the Algarve as detectives carried out a major review of evidence in the case.

Detectives from the Policia Judiciaria (PJ) spoke to Rachael Oldfield, Russell O’Brien and Fiona Payne to go over their accounts of the events of May 3, when Madeleine was abducted from her parents’ holiday let in the Algarve.

The McCanns were having dinner with a group of friends from the UK in a tapas restaurant opposite the apartment in the village of Praia Da Luz when the four-year-old was snatched.

Police have already interviewed the party in detail including one woman who saw a girl being carried away by a man in Praia Da Luz and now believes it was Madeleine.

Mrs Oldfield 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."

Meanwhile, Robert Murat, the only official suspect in the case, was called back for a second day of questioning. Murat, 33, was thrown into the spotlight on May 14, 11 days after the four-yearold from Rothley, Leicestershire, was snatched.

Officers from the PJ swooped on Casa Liliana, the villa in which he lives with his mother Jenny His girlfriend, Michaela Walczuch, and her estranged Portuguese husband Luis Antonio were also interviewed as witnesses.