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The man being
treated as a suspect in the search for missing Madeleine McCann says
he has been made "a scapegoat for something I did not do".
Briton Robert Murat, 33, told Sky News the situation had "ruined"
his life.
Police have searched his mother's Algarve villa, which is close to
where four-year-old Madeleine of Rothley, Leicestershire, was last
seen on 3 May.
However officers said they did not have the evidence to formally
arrest or charge anybody.
Mr Murat, who previously lived in Hockering, Norfolk, has recently been living with his
mother Jenny, 71, in Praia da Luz.
Speaking off camera after it emerged he was being treated as a
suspect, Mr Murat told Sky News: "This has ruined my life and made
my life very difficult for my family here and in Britain.
"The only way I will survive this is if they catch Madeleine's
abductor."
Members of Mr Murat's family have insisted he had nothing to do with
Madeleine's disappearance and say he was having dinner with his
mother on the night it happened.
On Tuesday, Chief Inspector Olegario de Sousa told a news conference
he could not confirm whether Madeleine was alive or dead.
He said police had searched five houses on Monday and seized
"various materials" from the properties which were being subjected
to forensic tests.
Two other people - a German woman and a Portuguese man - have been
questioned as witnesses.
The suspect, who has not been formally named by police, has signed
an identity and residence statement which prevents him from moving
house or leaving Portugal, and
requires him to regularly report to police.
Mr Sousa confirmed the suspect had assisted police in the early
stages of the investigation by working as a translator.
Being declared a suspect, or "arguido", means Mr Murat has
additional legal rights under Portuguese law.
He may have been named as an arguido by police or could have chosen
to take the status himself to gain those protections.
An arrest can be made once someone is an arguido, but only if there
is sufficient evidence.
"When you work, you work to get results, but this doesn't always
happen at once," Mr Sousa said.
"Let's wait and see. We are hopeful that this case will be over in
the near future."
Mr Murat, a former property developer, had become well known to
journalists during the search for Madeleine.
The search of his mother's property, known as Casa Liliana, began on
Monday after Sunday Mirror journalist Lori Campbell had spoken to
the British Embassy and the police about Mr Murat.
It is believed police have examined two cars used by the Murats, as
well as taking away computers, mobile phones and several video tapes
His mother is a former nurse who has lived in Portugal for 40 years and brought Mr
Murat and his sister up in the country.
Mr Murat's uncle, Ralph Eveleigh, who runs a bed and breakfast in
the nearby village of Burgau, said his nephew had been at home
with his mother on the night Madeleine went missing.
"Robert is so sweet and good-natured. He was just trying to help,"
he added.
Madeleine disappeared from her bedroom 13 days ago as her parents
ate dinner at a nearby tapas restaurant.
On Wednesday, Madeleine's uncle and aunt, John and Philomena McCann,
from Glasgow, are to visit the
House of Commons in a bid to keep the search in the public eye.
Glasgow MP Mohammed Salwar, who will accompany the couple, said the
McCann family had "the full support of the British government".
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