Madeleine: suspect Murat quizzed again

The only named suspect in the May 3 disappearance of toddler Madeleine McCann in Portugal has been questioned again by police.

British expatriate Robert Murat, 33, attended a police station in the Algarve and was questioned by detectives.

Mr Murat, a Briton living with his mother Jenny just yards from where Madeleine went missing, gave a second DNA sample to police in recent weeks.

His spokesman, Tuck Price, said he believed the questioning, at Portimao police station, was simply "part of the process".

He said: "We have known all along, everybody has known, that Robert was going to have to be requestioned to check the facts and all that, but we have just never know when it was going to be.

"We have been expecting it for a long long time and are quite happy it's happening because - while we know he is innocent - as soon as they second-question him and check all the facts, they can release him from arguido status."

He said once that happened, Murat could be reunited with his daughter. "I'm sure he is nervous because you never know where these things can go. I certainly hope it's the beginning of the end," he said.

"It's been a very surreal experience for him. He is holding up, he wants it to be over. He wants to see his family in the UK, his daughter, as soon as the arguido status is lifted. They will either come here or he will go there."

It is now more than two months since the four-year-old was snatched from her bed as she slept in the resort of Praia da Luz as her parents dined at a nearby tapas bar.

Despite several possible sightings in Portugal and countries such as Morocco and Malta, police have no clear leads.

The child's parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, have launched repeated appeals for information and their highly-publicised campaign to highlight Madeleine's disappearance has received the backing of sports stars and multimillionaire businessmen.

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