27th October 2013
Daily Mirror
Madeline McCann: Police hunt three 'gypsies' seen lurking near holiday apartmentThe men were suspected of being behind a string of burglaries around the resort in the weeks leading up to the youngster being snatched .
Police on the re-opened case want to interview janitors who blamed the gypsies for the break-ins.
Officers believe the maintenance men, who fixed a blind in the McCanns’ holiday flat two days before Madeleine went missing in May 2007, are crucial to the case.
Luis Ferro and Mario Moreira were ordered to flat 5A to mend a broken blind in Kate and Gerry’s bedroom at 10am on May 1.
Mr Ferro, quizzed by Portuguese police four days after Madeleine vanished, said gypsies had been active in the area at the time.
He mentioned a warehouse near the resort’s Millennium Restaurant where he said the three gypsies had stolen firewood and scrap metal.
The “potentially highly significant” evidence was dismissed as “not relevant or useful” by officers involved in the controversial initial probe – led by disgraced former police chief Goncalo Amaral.
But it is now being taken seriously after a four-year-old blonde girl was last week found living with gypsies, who had bought her for just £750 in Greece.
As part of the same line of inquiry, police are also re-examining a suspected sighting of Madeleine the day after she vanished.
The witness reported seeing a girl matching her description laying in the back of a white van driven by two “gypsies” 160 miles away.
The new probe by Portuguese and British police has boosted the hopes of the missing youngster’s anguished parents Kate and Gerry, both 45.
Police in Portugal have drawn up a list of 41 “people of interest” and e-fit pictures have been issued of a man seen carrying a child near the resort after Madeleine was taken.
Aged three, Madeleine vanished from the McCanns’ apartment in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007, while her parents were eating tapas nearby.
They are being kept briefed on developments, but their Portuguese lawyer Rogerio Alves said: “The police asked us not to compromise the investigation and we are obliged to respect the secrecy order.
“It would be a crime for anyone working with full information on the details to talk about it.”
Kate and Gerry, of Rothley, Leics, yesterday appealed for people to be “patient” as the new begins.
In a message on their Find Madeleine website, where they have posted a picture of how Maddy would look today aged nine, they asked people to “respect the work of the police as they endeavour to find the answers.”
They added: “We’re very pleased the investigation to find Madeleine has officially been reopened in Portugal.
Anyone with information should contact police, either here in the UK or in Portugal.”
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/madeline-mccann-police-hunt-three-2644559#ixzz0KrwKDR4k