LAWFUEL – Family insists sighting of a man seen ‘with child in his arms’ on the night of the four-year-old’s abduction is ‘significant and relevant’, the Independent Newspaper reports.
The parents of missing four-year-old Madeleine McCann welcomed a fresh police appeal for help yesterday, insisting that the sighting of a man on the night of her disappearance was “significant” and “relevant”.
Portuguese police said they are looking for a white man, aged 35 to 40, with short hair, seen carrying “what appeared to be a child in his arms”in the Praia da Luz resort in Portugal on 3 May.
Officers have known about the sighting for three weeks but have not previously made it known that they were following it as a line of inquiry, due to Portuguese laws which keep a lid on how police investigations are progressing.
Gerry McCann and his wife Kate appeared on the steps of their apartment yesterday afternoon after a meeting with senior officers and tried to smooth over tensions between Madeleine’s relatives and local police.
He said: “We very much welcome the decision of the police authorities to release details of a man seen by witnesses. The release of this important information followed an earlier meeting we had with senior police officers. We feel sure that this sighting of a man with what appeared to be a child in his arms is both significant and relevant to Madeleine’s abduction. We wish for nothing more than to bring Madeleine home with us safe and well.”
