Madeleine: Mother to be named as a 'suspect' after 11 hours of questioning
7th September 2007•Madeleine's mother amazed and horrified after being told she is to be named as a suspect
•Police want to ask Mrs McCann 22 specific questions about her daughter's disappearance
•Kate McCann will be quizzed again by police at 10.30am today. Mr McCann will be interviewed at the police station at 2pm
The mother of missing Madeleine McCann was today declared an official "suspect" in the case of the disappearance of her daughter - after being quizzed by police for 11 hours.
Police told the mother of the missing four-year-old that she was an "arguido" - a Portuguese term which allows them to question her with the possibility of charges being brought.
The 39-year-old doctor was told of the move when she attended a police station for a second session of questions. This followed an 11-hour grilling which ended early today.
Stressed: Kate McCann is driven by her lawyer Carlos Pinto Abreu away from a marathon 11-hour police interview
A family friend said: "They are treating Kate McCann as if she is involved in some way in the death of her daughter. She is amazed and horrified that she has been named an arguido."
The arguido status was ordered because of "DNA evidence" and more "evidence of the events of 3 May", sources said.
Police will now ask Mrs McCann 22 specific questions about the night Madeleine disappeared. Her husband, Gerry, will also be interviewed separately today and has been told to attend the same police station in Portimao at 2pm this afternoon.
Detectives believe they need to formally declare Mrs McCann a suspect under Portuguese law to ask the questions.
The move comes after a forensic breakthrough in the case following exhaustive tests of material at British laboratories.
Horrified: Madeleine's mother leaves Portimao police station early today after an 11-hour grilling
Tired: Kate McCann looks emotional as she emerged from her police interview in the early hours of this morning
The family friend said: "She really hopes that the police are looking for her daughter. The McCanns just want to be reunited with Madeleine.
"She is the most loving mother. You cannot imagine Kate McCann doing anything to one of her children."
The friend added: "What I know is that Gerry McCann will go on to the police station this afternoon as a witness but it is her that will be named an arguido this morning."
Mrs McCann is to return to the police station where she was quizzed until the early hours of this morning to be given the devastating news.
Kate McCann nearly disappeared among the swarm of photographers as she arrived at the police station
She underwent a gruelling first interview that lasted 11 hours.
Throughout her four-month ordeal, Mrs McCann has invariably been seen clutching Madeleine's favourite soft toy, Cuddle Cat.
She was holding the toy when she arrived at the police station yesterday afternoon, but did not have it in her hands when she emerged.
Her brother-in-law John McCann said the prospect of Kate becoming a suspect was "unbelievable".
Speaking from his home in Glasgow, he said: "We just need to see what exactly is going to develop in Portugal.
"We just want to see exactly what the Portuguese police are saying.
"We cannot believe the line that they are going down - we just find it unbelievable."
A source close to the investigation said: "They [the police] have not finished with her. That is why it is all taking such a long time."
The tests centre on new DNA evidence which could have come from a number of sources.
They include the flat where Madeleine disappeared from, cars used by the McCanns and their friends, and the flat and cars of Robert Murat, the first arguido in the case.
Among the claims the McCanns have faced in Portuguese papers is that Madeleine died by accident because they gave her an overdose of a sedative.
The claim has been vehemently denied by the family.
Missing: Four-year-old Madeleine McCannThe McCanns had planned to go home to Leicestershire with their two-year-old twins, Sean and Amelie, as early as Sunday but that has been thrown into disarray by the time it has taken to question Mrs McCann while her husband faces a similar, lengthy interview today.
The results of tests conducted by Forensic Science Service experts in Birmingham were returned to the Portuguese police this week and lie behind the dramatic developments over the last two days.
As well as establishing who the blood stains found in the McCanns' apartment belonged to, it is also understood that the tests have found further vital forensic evidence.
Kate and Gerry kiss outside the police station yesterday afternoonThis is believed to have either indicated that another person was present in the McCanns' apartment without explanation, or that unexplained traces of a potential suspect have been found on other material sent to the forensic scientists from other locations in the investigation.
Detectives telephoned Mr McCann on Monday to summon the couple back to Portimao police station, specifying that his wife would be questioned first.
In the middle of the week the couple's lawyer went to court to have them named "assistants" in the case, which would have allowed them access to information kept from them under Portuguese secrecy laws.
The couple had already taken legal action against a local newspaper which accused them of being involved in their daughter's death, the latest in a smear campaign blamed on rogue elements of the police investigating the disappearance.
Until today, the only suspect in the case was Murat, who was formally named an arguido in the week immediately after 3 May, when Madeleine vanished from the Mark Warner holiday apartment in Praia da Luz where the McCanns were staying with friends.
Friends said Mrs McCann was extremely nervous about being "set up" and fears detectives were attempting to crack the case by pinning the blame for Madeleine's disappearance on her.
A British source with knowledge of the investigation claimed: "Forensic tests have opened new lines of inquiry which undermines their version of events."
It is understood that inquiries are concentrating on alleged discrepancies in their accounts of the night Madeleine disappeared.
Portuguese newspapers have long implicated the McCanns and their friends with whom they were dining on the night.
Today's Portuguese papers claimed the McCanns were being reinterviewed either because of email and telephone intercept evidence or because of forensic evidence, which somehow shows the McCanns involved in their daughter's disappearance.
Before Mrs McCann was formally named a suspect, Justine McGuinness, the McCanns' campaign manager, said the couple were "happy to help the police".
Mr McCann hasn't written anything on his blog for two days.
And it has been reported that as the focus of the police investigation shifted onto the couple, the Vatican erased all mention of them from their official website.
•Since Madeleine disappearance in May, the Portuguese police have questioned many people as witnesses, including Kate and Gerry McCann.
Suspect Robert Murat was questioned several times in this way before he was finally declared an "arguido" by police on May 15.
The term is used to refer to anyone who is recognised as an official suspect in a police investigation.
Under Portuguese law, either the police or the person being questioned are able to request that they be formally named as an arguido.
They are then immediately granted the right to a lawyer and have the right to remain silent - a right which a witness does not have.
Once under arguido status, they are then able to be arrested, provided the police have sufficient evidence.
As in the case with Mr Murat, it is within police powers to impose restrictions on the movements of the suspect while the case continues.
This could mean a ban on the suspect leaving the country or a certain area marked out by police. In some cases the suspect is prohibited from leaving their house.
For someone who is declared an arguido, they must notify police if they stay anywhere other than his stated place of residence for more than five days.
Kate to be Maddie 'suspect'
Kate ... suspect
By KATY HASTINGS
September 07, 2007
KATE McCANN is to be named as an official suspect in the death of her daughter, Maddie.
A spokesman for the McCann family said Portuguese police will make the move later today before questioning Kate for the second time in 24 hours.
It is understood that detectives want to put more intrusive questions to Kate and they cannot do this unless they officially name her as a suspect.
She will return to the police station in Portmao later this morning, after only leaving there late last night.
Husband Gerry is due to attend the station for questioning this afternoon.
Under Portuguese law, an arguido, or suspect, has certain legal protection that is not extended to a witness, including the right to remain silent during questioning and the right to legal representation.
The family spokesman said: “Just before the session ended last night, they made it clear they had some further questions to ask which would require her to be in arguido status rather than just witness status.”
He could not confirm what these questions were, or whether Mr McCann will also be made an arguido when he reports to the police station later.
The spokesman said: “She is shocked and surprised in several ways. First of all that such an accusation could be made against her.
“And obviously she is concerned that such a line of investigation can become a distraction from further attempts to find Madeleine.”
Gerry’s brother John McCann said this morning the prospect of Kate becoming a suspect was “unbelievable”.
Speaking from his home in Glasgow about the development, he said: “We just need to see what exactly is going to develop in Portugal.
“We just want to see exactly what the Portuguese Police are saying.
“We cannot believe the line that they are going down - we just find it
unbelievable.”
Kate arrived at the police station yesterday, clutching Madeleine’s favourite soft toy, Cuddle Cat.
But when she left in the early hours of the morning she did not have it in her hands.
While Kate was questioned Justine McGuinness, the McCanns’ spokeswoman, read out a brief statement in front of the police station.
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| Hard questioning ... Kate McCann with lawyer Carlos Pinto Abreu |
“Kate and Gerry are happy to help the police in their investigations to find their daughter Madeleine, as they have been since she was taken.
“Kate continues to believe that Madeleine is still alive, and to hope and pray that she will be returned soon.
“Kate is a loving, gentle mother - one of the victims in an extraordinary and terrible set of events.”
Kate also issued a brief statement in which she appealed to Madeleine’s abductors to “do the right thing”.
She said: “I miss Madeleine so much. Gerry and I want to appeal again to the person or people who took her or know who took her to do the right thing.
“It is not too late - please let her go or call the police.
“We came to Portugal an ordinary family of five. We just want to know what happened on May 3 and want to be able to go home one family, reunited.”
The police interviews have upset the McCanns’ plans to return to their home in Rothley, Leicestershire, with their two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie on Sunday.
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| Facing questioning ... Kate McCann walks into Portimao police station |
It is only the second time she has been formally interviewed by the police, the first being on May 4, the day after Madeleine went missing.
Detectives have already questioned her husband twice.
The friend said the couple were happy to help the police investigation and saw the interviews as a “positive development”.
“They have been asked to come to these interviews. If it develops the investigation obviously they will stay (in Portugal),” the friend added.
The development comes amid reports that arrests could be imminent following a forensic breakthrough.
The couple were furious after police refused to tell them if her blood had been found in the family villa.
Sources said analysis of samples taken from the villa produced “significant” new information that could even lead to arrests within days.
But relations between the McCanns and Portuguese police hit a new low when detectives failed to tell them the DNA results were back. Incredibly, Gerry and Kate only learned of the breakthrough when The Sun alerted an aide.
Key results from the samples have been sent from a UK lab to Portuguese cops searching for Maddie, four, who vanished in Praia da Luz on May 3.
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| Quizzed ... Gerry and Kate |
The results are being kept secret from the public to avoid jeopardising the inquiry.
But cardiologist Gerry, 39, of Rothley, Leics, was said to be “upset and frustrated” that detectives did not update him. He spent hours trying to get answers from the police, but without success.
A family friend said: “That is bound to be frustrating. They did have a good working relationship. Not any more.”
British police teams tested the McCanns’ Algarve holiday villa three months after Maddie vanished — and after the property had been rented out to another family.
Blood, hair and fibre samples were sent to a Birmingham lab and tested for Maddie’s DNA. They were also compared with that of possible suspects.
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| Daughter ... Maddie |
The source added: “What happens now will be up to the police in Portugal, but people should be keeping a very close eye on events over there in the next few days.”
Meanwhile, Maddie’s great aunt was rushed to hospital last night after collapsing with the stress of waiting for the latest developments.
Retired teacher Janet Kennedy, 68, fell ill at her home in Rothley.
A neighbour said: “Janet suffers from high blood pressure and the agonising wait for results of the blood samples was too much for her.”
