by 112-1077774096 » Wed Aug 08, 2007 9:45 am
http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1240672007
says:
"MADELEINE McCann was not kidnapped but died in her bedroom as a result of negligence or murder, it was claimed yesterday
In a dramatic development, Portuguese detectives are to re-interview her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, together with six friends who dined together at a restaurant near the McCanns' holiday apartment on the night she disappeared, senior police sources were quoted as saying.
And, according to reports, the friends have all been placed under surveillance by British police, following a request from their Portuguese counterparts.
A UK sniffer-dog team, which it is believed picked up the scent on Monday, reportedly checked cars used by the McCanns and their friends, David and Dr Fiona Payne, Russell O'Brien and partner Jane Tanner, and Matthew and Rachel Oldfield.
Portuguese newspapers reported detectives suspect the four-year-old was not abducted, but was accidentally killed in the holiday flat on 3 May.
Diario De Noticias, a respected broadsheet, said Portuguese detectives had known for the past month that Madeleine had died on 3 May, and it said they had "definitively abandoned" the kidnapping theory.
The newspaper Jornal De Noticias reported that one sniffer dog detected traces of blood on a wall at the family apartment, while another dog picked up the scent of a dead body. The blood traces are being examined by DNA specialists and tested against Madeleine's genetic profile.
The Jornal De Noticias reported: "The discoveries made by the sniffer dogs strongly support the theory that [Madeleine] died in her parents' hotel room, either - as Portuguese detectives believe - the victim of an unexplained accident, or the victim of a crime. The theory that she was kidnapped seems more and more remote."