Madeleine police 'have not contacted suspect's girlfriend'

Portuguese detectives have not contacted the girlfriend of Madeleine McCann suspect Robert Murat since new allegations emerged that she was seen with the missing child, a friend said today.

Witnesses have identified Michaela Walczuch as a woman sighted with the young girl, first in Portugal two days after she disappeared and then in Morocco 41 days later.

The reports are being investigated by Spanish private detective agency Metodo 3, which has been hired by Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry McCann to help find their daughter.

Both Anglo-Portuguese expat Mr Murat, 34, and German-born Ms Walczuch, 32, strenuously deny any involvement in the child’s disappearance.

Family friend Tuck Price played down reports today questioning Mr Murat’s girlfriend’s alibi on May 3, the night Madeleine went missing from the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz.

Ms Walczuch is said to have told police she was at a Jehovah’s Witness meeting in nearby Lagos that evening.

But Tiofilo Castelo, a member of the Algarve Regional Association of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, told reporters yesterday she was “thrown out” of the church over 12 months ago.

He said: “She used to come to our church but not any more. It was a long time ago, it was before this year.”

But Mr Price said: “I know for sure she’s been going to her meetings, and I know for sure the police haven’t contacted her.

“If that was true, I’m sure the police would have been on to her.”

Spanish tourist Isabel Gonzalez, 60, believes she saw Madeleine with Ms Walczuch in Morocco on June 15.

The child was apparently being dragged across the street in the north-eastern town of Zaio by an Arab woman, she said.

Ms Gonzalez told reporters: “I have always been convinced the girl I saw in Morocco was Madeleine. Now I am equally sure the blonde woman I saw that day in the town was Murat’s girlfriend.”

Another witness claims to have seen the missing girl in a car with a woman, identified from a photograph as Ms Walczuch, around Portugal’s central coastal area on May 5.

It is understood that Metodo 3 have passed on their findings to the Portuguese authorities.