Madeleine McCann: Family rally round to support Kate and Gerry

Sep 10 2007

The family of Madeleine McCann today spoke of their shock and anger after her parents were made formal suspects in her disappearance.

Philomena McCann, Madeleine’s aunt, said it was “unbelievable” that Kate and Gerry McCann had been named as “arguidos”, or formal suspects.

She said the family believes the little girl is alive and urged the Portuguese police to “turn the investigation” round to look for her alive.

“The way the Portuguese have turned this investigation round, and they are no longer looking for a live child, they are assuming on spurious evidence, that Madeleine is now dead, well, we don’t agree with that in any shape or form,” she told BBC Breakfast.

“We want the investigation changed round to look for Madeleine alive, as we reckon she is.”

Ms McCann said Kate and Gerry McCann were “emotionally exhausted” on their return home to England yesterday.

Speaking to GMTV from her home in Ullapool, Scotland, she said: “Kate is a very strong young woman and emotionally the anger welled up. To come home now helps them to pause and get direction again.

“I believe their arguido status changes a few things. They are taking legal advice and trying to work through the maze that is the Portuguese legal system.

“It is unbelievable they have been named as suspects - no-one believes the Portuguese police.

“To think they are so callous and psychopathic that they could have done that... two more loving parents you could not hope to meet.

“All I can suggest is the Portuguese police are clutching at straws, they want to get this case cleared up.

“Kate and Gerry have been a thorn in their sides for a long time. What better than to cast them as the villains?”

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Ms McCann said the couple would be “absolutely” co-operating with the Portuguese police and were prepared to return to Portugal to under go further questioning.

She added that they would return to Portugal at regular intervals to put pressure on the Portuguese police to change the direction of their investigation in order to look for the little girl alive.

She was speaking as Madeleine’s parents woke up back home in Britain today, but without their missing daughter and with a cloud of suspicion hanging over them.

The couple left their house in Rothley, Leicestershire, with their three children for a happy family holiday in Portugal at the end of April.

More than four months later they finally made the emotional journey back to the UK yesterday with their two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie, but not their eldest child.

To make the situation even worse, in the previous week the McCanns were made formal suspects in Madeleine’s disappearance and warned by their lawyer that they could be charged over her death.

After touching down at East Midlands Airport just after noon yesterday, Mr McCann, his voice breaking, insisted they played no part in her disappearance.

He 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 couple do not know if or when police will call them back to Portugal, although they will obey even if they fear they could be arrested, a family friend said.

“They are not running away. It is a change of place but they are very happy to help the police,” the friend said.

“If they need to come back for interviews, they will come back for interviews.”

The family’s decision to return to Britain was in large part based on their desire to maintain a sense of normality for their two youngest children.

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

It is very unlikely they will bring the twins back to Portugal with them if police need them for further interviews, a friend said.

Mrs McCann’s uncle, Brian Kennedy, spoke briefly to reporters outside the couple’s house in Rothley yesterday.

He said: “It has been a very emotional experience. In one way they’re happy to be back, but they have a mix of feelings, as you would expect.

“It has been the most trying three or four days of their lives. They are very tired - shattered, as anyone would be.”

The McCanns’ return to Britain yesterday on board easyJet flight 6552 from Faro capped a week of dramatic developments.

On Monday Portuguese detectives telephoned Mr McCann to summon him and his wife for further questioning.

Three days later Mrs McCann went to the headquarters of the Policia Judiciaria (PJ) - Portugal’s CID - in the town of Portimao and was questioned for 11 hours.

During the interview detectives suggested to her 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 declared an “arguida”, or formal suspect.

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

Mr McCann was separately interviewed for eight hours the same day and was also made an arguido.

There were no bail conditions attached to their arguido status and they retained their passports, meaning they could freely return to the UK.

On Saturday they couple made a last-minute decision to reinstate their original plan to fly home yesterday.

Mr McCann drove his family out of the gates of their villa at about 7.10am yesterday and they arrived at Faro Airport’s VIP entrance an hour later.

The first two rows on the aircraft were reserved for the McCanns, who were accompanied by Madeleine’s aunt, Trisha Cameron, and their spokesman, David Hughes.

Sean and Amelie joked and played with their parents throughout the two-and-a-half-hour flight back to Britain, according to one of the journalists also on board.

It is now 130 days since Madeleine went missing from her bed in her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz while her parents dined at a nearby tapas restaurant.

Mr and Mrs McCann insisted they would not be “bullied” into leaving the Algarve by a series of Portuguese newspaper headlines from early August onwards suggesting they were involved in Madeleine’s death.

But the growing backlash against them, coupled with the direction the police investigation has taken, appears to have speeded their return to the UK.

Mr and Mrs McCann are receiving further legal advice from two lawyers in the UK.

The couple are being advised by Michael Caplan QC and Angus McBride, from London legal firm Kingsley Napley.

Mr Caplan acted for former Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet when Spain tried to extradite him from the UK in 1999.

Mr McBride is a criminal lawyer with particular expertise in protecting the reputation of people and companies being investigated by either the media or criminal investigators, according to Kingsley Napley’s website.

A family friend said they were advising the McCanns on “much more than just extradition” but would not elaborate further.

The lawyers are expected to issue a joint statement later today.s)

Justine McGuinness, the McCanns’ spokeswoman, said the couple were unlikely to emerge from their home.

They are unable to say anything because of the “difficult legal situation” they are in since being named as formal suspects in the case of their daughter’s disappearance, she said.