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• Police reveal prime suspect Robert Murat's phone call to Russian soon after
Maddy was snatched
• But he says: I was home asleep
• Woman claims to have seen Madeleine in Morocco
• Mari Olli says she repeatedly phoned police in Portugal
The alibi of prime suspect Robert Murat came under fresh scrutiny yesterday
when it was revealed that he made a late-night phone call after Madeleine
McCann disappeared.
Mr Murat has said he was at home in bed when the child was snatched from her
family's nearby holiday apartment at around 10pm on May 3.
But according to police sources, he made a mobile call at 11.40pm to Russian
computer expert Sergey Malinka, though both men claim they hardly know each
other.
Mr Malinka, 22, who was questioned as a witness by police, has strenuously
denied having anything to do with Madeleine's disappearance. He claimed he had
not spoken to Mr Murat 'for around a year', but phone records showed they spoke
several times on the night of May 3.
But according to police sources, he made a mobile call at 11.40pm to Russian
computer expert Sergey Malinka, though both men claim they hardly know each
other.
Mr Malinka, 22, who was questioned as a witness by police, has strenuously
denied having anything to do with Madeleine's disappearance. He claimed he had
not spoken to Mr Murat 'for around a year', but phone records showed they spoke
several times on the night of May 3.
Portuguese police sources said it was 'bizarre' for the men to speak late at
night, then claim not to be close.
One source said: "Why have both men been saying they hardly know each
other when they clearly were on good enough terms to speak by mobile phone just
before midnight? It strikes us as bizarre."
The two men were also photographed by police talking animatedly near the
McCanns' apartment in the days after Madeleine disappeared.
The apparent discrepancies came as a holidaymaker said she was convinced she
spotted Madeleine in Morocco
last week - and is now sick with regret because she did not know there was a
girl missing and so she did not alert police there.
Marie Olli said a 'sad' blonde girl was standing on her own in a petrol station
in Marrakesh,
and then a man came over and she asked him: "Can I see mummy soon?"
Mrs Olli, who is Norwegian and lives on the Costa del Sol,
said she did not know about Madeleine on May 9, while she and her British
husband were on holiday.
"I am very sure it was Madeleine. I walked into the petrol station and saw
the little girl standing there. She looked sad. When the man saw me looking at
them he turned away, so I couldn't see his face.
"It's very strange. If it was me with a child there, I would hold their
hand, but this man was a metre away from her.
"At 6pm the next day I turned on the news in Spain and got a real shock, because
it was definitely her.
"All that evening I was physically sick. I was calling all the police, but
no one wanted to talk to me. I was phoning the Spanish police about 20 times.
"We then phoned Leicestershire police, who took my report and said it was
a 'very strong observation'. But since then nobody has phoned me back.
"It's a nightmare. I feel I should have done something, that I should have
looked after that girl in some way. She looked so sad and so alone."
In other developments, it emerged yesterday that police have still not checked
video cameras along the A22 main road out of the region.
The footage could yield vital clues if Madeleine was spirited away in a vehicle
along the 80-mile motorway to Spain.
Euroscut, the company responsible for the road, said it had 18 cameras along
the route.
Initial forensic tests on items taken from Mr Murat's villa have shown no
evidence that Madeleine was there, but other results are still awaited.
Mr Murat said there was nothing sinister in his hiring a car two days before
detectives took him in for questioning.
Police have been unable to check how many miles he did in the Hyundai as it was
not noted properly by the hire firm.
Last night, the McCann family's priest told how their faith has sustained them
through their two weeks of hell. |
