McCanns fear being implicated in Madeleine’s disappearance

THE parents of Madeleine McCann fear Portuguese detectives are about to name them as suspects in their daughter’s disappearance, a family friend said yesterday.

Kate McCann returned to an Algarve police station yesterday afternoon to undergo questioning for a second time, and her husband Gerry will be re-interviewed today.

Portuguese police have not revealed why they want to speak to the couple again. But there is speculation the move may be linked to forensic tests on samples taken from the McCanns’ holiday apartment in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz.

Detectives telephoned Mr McCann on Monday to summon the couple back to Portimao police station, specifying that his wife should be questioned first.

A family friend of the McCanns said they regarded the interviews as a “step forward in the investigation” but were apprehensive about what they might mean.

“They do fear they are about to become suspects,” the friend added.

After receiving the police summons on Monday, the McCanns took legal advice from their Lisbon-based lawyer Carlos Pinto de Abreu.

He travelled down to the Algarve yesterday so he could sit in on Mrs McCann’s interview.

It is now 126 days since four-year-old Madeleine went missing from her bed in her family’s flat while her parents dined in a nearby tapas restaurant.

Yesterday, Mr McCann drove his wife to Portimao police station, where a huge crowd of photographers and TV crews was waiting for them.

After kissing her husband on the lips, Mrs McCann braved the media onslaught to walk the 50 yards to the front door, looking apprehensive but managing a nervous smile.

She was accompanied by her husband’s sister Trisha Cameron as she entered the building, clutching Madeleine’s favourite soft toy, Cuddle Cat.

Mrs McCann, a 39-year-old GP, has only been formally interviewed by police once before – on May 4, the day after Madeleine went missing.

Portuguese detectives have questioned her husband on two occasions.