Portuguese police brand both parents suspects

Missing Madeleine McCann’s parents are awaiting the next twist today in the police investigation into her disappearance after they were both named as suspects.

Kate McCann was first declared an “arguida”, or formal suspect, before undergoing intense questioning by Portuguese detectives yesterday morning.

In a day of dramatic developments, her husband Gerry was then later given the same status in the course of a separate interview with police.

He left the headquarters of the Policia Judiciaria – Portugal’s CID – in the town of Portimao shortly after midnight after more than eight hours of questioning.

Standing next to Mr McCann, the couple’s lawyer, Carlos Pinto de Abreu, said: “Kate and Gerry have both been declared arguidos with no bail conditions, and no charges have been brought against them. The investigation continues.”

Mrs McCann fears she will now be charged over Madeleine’s death after Portuguese police asked her directly whether she killed her daughter.

Detectives offered her a “deal” – a guaranteed jail sentence of no more than two years – if she confessed to accidentally killing her daughter, Mr McCann’s sister Philomena McCann said yesterday.

But Mrs McCann refused, saying: “How dare you, how dare you use emotional blackmail to get me to confess to something I didn’t do?,” according to ITV News.

The couple want to return from the Algarve to their home in Rothley, Leicestershire, but are now taking legal advice on whether they can do this while being arguidos, a family spokesman says.

Portuguese detectives appear to be working on the theory that Mrs McCann killed her daughter by accident and covered up the death by claiming she was abducted.

Test results from the Forensic Science Service in Birmingham received in recent days have apparently boosted this hypothesis.

Mr McCann’s alleged role is not clear, but sources said police believed he was an accessory to the killing.

Mrs McCann underwent 11 hours of questioning on Thursday, during the course of which detectives suggested that traces of Madeleine’s blood were found in the family’s hire car, a silver Renault Scenic that they are still using.

She 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.

After returning to the police station yesterday morning, Mrs McCann was formally made an arguida and detectives put 22 key questions to her.

A family spokesman said: “It was clearly suggested to her that she had accidentally been responsible for Madeleine’s death.”

Mrs McCann, who like her husband strenuously insists she is innocent, was said to be “shocked and frustrated” by yesterday’s developments.

Hundreds of residents and holidaymakers joined a huge crowd of journalists waiting outside Portimao police station throughout the day.

Mrs McCann’s arrival was greeted with whistles and jeers from Portuguese onlookers, although one British tourist shouted: “We believe you, Kate”.

Family and friends immediately came to Mrs McCann’s support, dismissing any suggestion she could have been involved in Madeleine’s disappearance on May 3 as “ridiculous”.

Susan Healey, Mrs McCann’s mother, described the situation as “ludicrous”.

Before attending the police station, Mr McCann said he and his wife would fight the moves to implicate her “all the way”.

Writing on his blog, on the www.findmadeleine.com website, he said: “Anyone who knows anything about May 3 knows that Kate is completely innocent.”

His brother, John McCann, labelled the moves by Portuguese police as “crazy”, saying the idea that blood found in a hire car could link Mrs McCann to Madeleine’s death “made no sense”.

He also said there was growing frustration with the Portuguese police’s methods and called for them to get their investigation back on track.

The seven friends on holiday with the McCanns when Madeleine disappeared also released a statement saying they were “totally appalled” at Portuguese police’s allegations.

But asked if the family would be shocked if Mrs McCann were to be charged, another friend said: “Nothing now would surprise us.”

It is now 128 days since four-year-old Madeleine went missing from her family’s holiday apartment in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz while her parents dined with friends nearby.

Until now there has only been one arguido in the case – Anglo-Portuguese expatriate Robert Murat – but he is widely expected to be formally ruled out of the inquiry shortly.

Under Portuguese law, an arguido has legal protection that is not extended to a witness, including the right to remain silent during questioning and the right to legal representation.

It is not uncommon for people caught up in criminal investigations in Portugal to declare themselves arguidos in order to receive this protection. An arguida is a female suspect.

John McCann this morning said that Mr and Mrs McCann were not presented with any “hard evidence” during yesterday’s questioning.

Asked how they were feeling after being named suspects, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “You put yourself in anybody’s shoes like that – you are tired, you are numb, you can’t believe what’s happening to you. Anybody with a sense of empathy will know what they are feeling.”

He added: “If this is what it takes to speed up the process of absolutely exonerating Gerry and Kate, let’s get on with it. I hope the police can move quickly, bring whatever evidence they have got and discuss with Gerry and Kate why they think what they think.

“We are not sure – we are still speculating – what the police think. (Gerry and Kate) are not allowed to discuss the case when they become arguidos, so I don’t know exactly what has been put to them. I’m led to believe that no hard evidence has been shown to them...

“Until we get some information about the forensics – and we have not got that yet – we don’t know what the Portuguese police’s motivation is.”

He added: “I think Gerry and Kate thought they had moved on in the first three months and then it seems that the police wanted to review all the information they had – maybe that’s a good thing, that any operation is reviewed and people go back to basics. But what is your plan then for moving forward? That’s why we are all confused.”