COPS hunting missing Madeleine McCann found vile child porn on the
computer of their only suspect, it was claimed yesterday.
Police who seized equipment from Robert Murat's villa found links to depraved
websites featuring children and other shocking images.
Murat, left, was named as the police's only formal suspect two weeks ago and
the investigation has focused on the 33-year-old.
He denies that he was the man spotted carrying a child away from Gerry and Kate
McCann's flat on the night Madeleine disappeared.
The sighting - by a female friend of the McCanns who was on holiday with them -
was reported to police within hours of the abduction but was only made public
on Friday.
Kate and Gerry, both 38, are convinced the child was Madeleine and their friend
has been able to tell them the girl was wearing pink pyjamas and was wrapped in
a blanket.
Gerry, of Rothley, Leicestershire, has been told what detectives found on
Murat's computer but asked not to be given details.
Police said Kate had been "shielded" from the nature of the web
links, which include bestiality.
Property dealer Murat and his ex-wife Dawn have been questioned about their sex
life and have denied to police that he regularly used porn.
It is understood his girlfriend, Michaela Walczuch, has faced similar questions
during police interviews.
Dawn, who lives with the couple's daughter Sofia in Norfolk, said: "They asked me about
Rob's state of mind, did he ever watch pornography with me or did I ever catch
him watching it.
"They wanted to know if he was under any stress and did I have any fears
about him. I told them I never caught him watching porn."
Murat has told police he had dinner with his mother Jenny, 71, on the night
Madeleine vanished and said he only learned of the abduction hours later.
But police found a series of phone calls between him and Russian computer ace
Sergey Malinka that night, starting about 30 minutes after the child was
snatched.
The child seen on the night of the abduction was wearing pyjamas similar to
Madeleine's, it emerged yesterday.
Despite the family's conviction that the abductor had been spotted close to the
flat at the Mark Warner Ocean Club resort, in Praia da Luz, on the Algarve, police
took three weeks to issue a description to the public.
Kate and Gerry had threatened legal action. But, after a meeting between the
couple and senior Portuguese officials, the police relented.
Leicestershire Police treated the woman as an important witness but said
Portuguese police did not seem interested and "just filed it away",
according to a source.
They only acted after pressure mounted from Glasgow-born Gerry and Prime
Minister-in-waiting Gordon Brown, who has kept in touch with the investigation
in a series of phone calls to the family.
Despite Gerry and Kate publicly praising the police for their work since
four-year-old Madeleine's disappearance on May 3, they are said to be
frustrated and exasperated at the slowness of investigators to process and
reveal key information.
A police source said: "The woman gave a statement to police in Portugal
but it was felt they never gave her information top priority.
"The view of the family, having put the timeline together, was that
Madeleine had been taken. As a result they do not blame the woman, but she
feels terrible guilt."
The source added: "The McCanns are resolute in not wanting to fall out
with the Portuguese police but they have found it very difficult at
times."
The white man spotted was aged about 35 to 40, of medium build, 5ft 10in tall,
and wearing a blue jacket and beige trousers
Despite the description of the suspect being issued, the finger of suspicion
still points at key suspect Murat, who police have refused to formally clear of
the offence.
Last night, he repeated his claim that he has nothing to do with the abduction.
Murat said: "It isn't me. But the description is so vague that it won't
put me out of the picture.
"I hope that I will soon be in a position to clear my name."
Doctors Gerry and Kate now intend to set off on a European tour to raise the
profile of their hunt for their daughter.
Yesterday, it was revealed their travels will first take them to Seville, in Spain,
before heading for Berlin and Amsterdam, where Gerry studied medicine for
two years.
They have been offered the use of a private jet and hope to meet David Beckham
and the Pope.
Family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said the distraught parents cannot bear to
be away from their two-year-old twins, Amelie and Sean, for a second.
More than £320,000 has been donated to the Find Madeleine fund and the website
has had more than 128million hits. |
