7th August 2007
The Times
Paedophile suicide in new Madeleine link
A paedophile who was on holiday in the Algarve at the time that Madeleine McCann was taken from her bed has been found dead after abducting a 5-year-old girl.
Urs Hans Von Aesch killed himself in a Swiss forest close to the belongings of Ylenia Lenhard, who is still missing a week after she disappeared.
Portuguese detectives have been told of similarities between the abductions of Madeleine and Ylenia, who look remarkably similar. They have also been informed that Von Aesch, who lived in Spain, was thought to have been close to Praia da Luz when Madeleine disappeared 96 days ago.
The development came as Portuguese police found traces of blood in the bedroom where Madeleine had been sleeping with her 2-year-old brother and sister, Sean and Amelie. Tiny specks of blood were discovered on a wall by a sniffer dog that was taken to Portugal by British police. The blood has been sent for DNA analysis.
Von Aesch, 67, is regarded by Swiss police as the key suspect in the abduction of Ylenia, who disappeared while walking to a swimming pool in the northeast of the country on Tuesday last week. The girl's neatly folded clothing, packed in her backpack, was discovered in a forest 20 miles (32km) from where she was abducted, suggesting that she was left naked. Von Aesch shot and injured a 46-year-old man in the same forest before killing himself on Tuesday last week.
Hans Peter Eugster, a Swiss police spokesman, said: "Because of the similarities in the case and because Von Aesch lived in Spain, we have informed Interpol. They in turn have passed on details of colleagues in Spain and Portugal and they are looking at reports that Von Aesch was on holiday in the Algarve."
Bruno Fehr, the chief of St Gallen state criminal police, said that the search for Ylenia continued yesterday with about 120 officers, dogs and an army helicopter. "We haven't given up hope," Mr Fehr said. "But we have to expect the worst now."
Von Aesch, who had lived with his Spanish wife in the town of Benimantel for ten years, drove a white van similar to one that was seen outside the McCanns' apartment on the Ocean Club resort when she disappeared.
A Portuguese police team led by two British officers has finished a second search of the home and garden of the only official suspect in the case, Robert Murat. Tuck Price, a spokesman for the Murat family, said that the police had not discovered anything of interest while searching the villa, which is 100 yards away from the McCanns' holiday apartment.
Mr Murat, 33, has insisted that he was at home with his mother, Jennifer, on the night that Madeleine went missing. Mrs Murat, 71, said: "He's going to be cleared, he is innocent."
Yesterday police removed a number of vehicles including Mr Murat's car, his mother's camper van and a van belonging to the Ocean Club resort for tests by forensic science experts. Portuguese and British police have also been monitoring a British tourist who was on holiday at the Ocean Club resort when Madeleine disappeared. The man, who has since returned to Britain, is under suspicion because of contraditions in witness statements that he gave to police.
A source close to the Portuguese police investigation said: "Murat was not the only person in the frame. Another man has been under surveillance for a period of time but has no idea that he is being watched."
Until now the strongest evidence provided to police has come from Jane Tanner, a friend who was on holiday with Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, and her partner, Russell O'Brien. Miss Tanner, 36, from Exeter, said she saw a man walking away from the McCann's appartment carrying a girl. Detectives are attempting to discover if this was the same man who was seen carrying a child towards the beach.
Martin Smith, from Ireland, said that the man was not Mr Murat, whom he has known for a number of years. Police have asked an oceanographer to calculate what would have happened to a body thrown in to the sea on the night Madeleine was taken.
