Post by LadyBlue on Aug 8, 2007 7:13:22 GMT -5
Blood samples from the Portuguese apartment where Madeleine McCann was staying while on holiday with her family will reach a British laboratory tomorrow for analysis.
The samples, which are understood to have been found in the apartment by a team of sniffer dogs operated by police from Leicestershire, will be examined by scientists from the Forensic Science Service (FSS), based in Birmingham, the Guardian understands.
The first task for scientists will be to try to get a DNA sample from the blood, reported to have been found on a wall of the villa in Praia de la Luz where the McCann family was staying.
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If the scientists are successful, the profile will be checked against the DNA of the missing four-year-old and against the national DNA database, set up by the FSS.
Police from Leicestershire, where the McCann family live, are leading the UK contingent of officers in Portugal helping detectives. Among the team is a detective sergeant from the Metropolitan police who speaks Portuguese and is working as a translator. Also on the team is a British-based profiler who is helping to build a picture of the suspected abductor.
Leicestershire police refused to comment yesterday on whether it was their officers who discovered the blood smears. But reports from Portugal suggested officers from the Leicestershire force used specialised equipment and their own sniffer dogs to re-examine the two-bedroom apartment on the Mark Warner holiday complex.
Blood was reportedly found on a wall in the bedroom where Madeleine had been sleeping with her younger brother and sister on May 3, the night she disappeared. A source was quoted as saying that one of the dogs stopped at the spot and barked to indicate it had found something.
Reports in the Portuguese press today suggested police had suspected for some months that Madeleine died in the apartment on May 3. The Diario de Noticias (DN) quoted a source close to the inquiry as saying that police had completely discounted kidnap as a result.
The source said detectives from Britain and Portugal had been closely monitoring the movements of the parents, Gerry and Kate, since Madeleine's disappearance.
Police sources told DN that they were concentrating "on the family circle and their friends", some of whom had been under surveillance in the UK.
Meanwhile, it was reported that Portuguese police had been monitoring a second suspect in the investigation.
The new suspect, said DN, is a man of about 40, about 1.70-1.75m tall, with brownish hair and who could be African or English. This man was seen with Robert Murat, the only named suspect in the case, and, before Madeleine's disappearance, in the company of the McCann family.
Separately, the lawyer for Mr Murat said he would sue for wrongful arrest once his client was proved innocent.
Mr McCann said today he could not comment on any specific details of the police inquiry. He told Sky News: "We do know some information that, one, we're not allowed to tell, and, two, we would never ever put anything into the public domain that might put the investigation of Madeleine at risk."
Mr McCann, a cardiologist, said he and his wife "strongly believed" Madeleine was alive when she was taken from the apartment. "We're not naive, but on numerous occasions the Portuguese police have assured us that they were looking for Madeleine alive and not Madeleine having been murdered," he added.
The fact that he and his wife had come under scrutiny from detectives was "difficult", Mr McCann said, but he insisted they were "more than happy" to cooperate.
"We expect the same thoroughness and to be treated the same way as anyone else who has been in and around this. And we wouldn't expect it any other way," he said. "The same high levels will be applied to us as would be applied to anybody else, and that's only right and proper."
The results of DNA tests on a drinks bottle used by a young girl resembling Madeleine who was seen in Belgium could be returned on Thursday. A customer at a restaurant in the Flemish town of Tongeren, not far from the Dutch border, said she was "100% sure" that she had seen the missing youngster.
The samples, which are understood to have been found in the apartment by a team of sniffer dogs operated by police from Leicestershire, will be examined by scientists from the Forensic Science Service (FSS), based in Birmingham, the Guardian understands.
The first task for scientists will be to try to get a DNA sample from the blood, reported to have been found on a wall of the villa in Praia de la Luz where the McCann family was staying.
Article continues
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If the scientists are successful, the profile will be checked against the DNA of the missing four-year-old and against the national DNA database, set up by the FSS.
Police from Leicestershire, where the McCann family live, are leading the UK contingent of officers in Portugal helping detectives. Among the team is a detective sergeant from the Metropolitan police who speaks Portuguese and is working as a translator. Also on the team is a British-based profiler who is helping to build a picture of the suspected abductor.
Leicestershire police refused to comment yesterday on whether it was their officers who discovered the blood smears. But reports from Portugal suggested officers from the Leicestershire force used specialised equipment and their own sniffer dogs to re-examine the two-bedroom apartment on the Mark Warner holiday complex.
Blood was reportedly found on a wall in the bedroom where Madeleine had been sleeping with her younger brother and sister on May 3, the night she disappeared. A source was quoted as saying that one of the dogs stopped at the spot and barked to indicate it had found something.
Reports in the Portuguese press today suggested police had suspected for some months that Madeleine died in the apartment on May 3. The Diario de Noticias (DN) quoted a source close to the inquiry as saying that police had completely discounted kidnap as a result.
The source said detectives from Britain and Portugal had been closely monitoring the movements of the parents, Gerry and Kate, since Madeleine's disappearance.
Police sources told DN that they were concentrating "on the family circle and their friends", some of whom had been under surveillance in the UK.
Meanwhile, it was reported that Portuguese police had been monitoring a second suspect in the investigation.
The new suspect, said DN, is a man of about 40, about 1.70-1.75m tall, with brownish hair and who could be African or English. This man was seen with Robert Murat, the only named suspect in the case, and, before Madeleine's disappearance, in the company of the McCann family.
Separately, the lawyer for Mr Murat said he would sue for wrongful arrest once his client was proved innocent.
Mr McCann said today he could not comment on any specific details of the police inquiry. He told Sky News: "We do know some information that, one, we're not allowed to tell, and, two, we would never ever put anything into the public domain that might put the investigation of Madeleine at risk."
Mr McCann, a cardiologist, said he and his wife "strongly believed" Madeleine was alive when she was taken from the apartment. "We're not naive, but on numerous occasions the Portuguese police have assured us that they were looking for Madeleine alive and not Madeleine having been murdered," he added.
The fact that he and his wife had come under scrutiny from detectives was "difficult", Mr McCann said, but he insisted they were "more than happy" to cooperate.
"We expect the same thoroughness and to be treated the same way as anyone else who has been in and around this. And we wouldn't expect it any other way," he said. "The same high levels will be applied to us as would be applied to anybody else, and that's only right and proper."
The results of DNA tests on a drinks bottle used by a young girl resembling Madeleine who was seen in Belgium could be returned on Thursday. A customer at a restaurant in the Flemish town of Tongeren, not far from the Dutch border, said she was "100% sure" that she had seen the missing youngster.