- Title: PORTUGAL: Portuguese Police quiz Briton over Madeleine McCann abduction
- Date: 15th May 2007
- Summary: (W2) PRAIA DA LUZ, PORTUGAL (MAY 14, 2007) (REUTERS) GERRY AND KATY MCCANN, PARENTS OF MISSING GIRL, WALKING TOWARDS MICROPHONES (SOUNDBITE) (English) GERRY MCCANN, FATHER OF MISSING GIRL MADELEINE MCCANN, SAYING: "First of all, you know that we've been taking tremendous strength from the warmth and the spiritual outpouring which we have received here and from all around the world, and that has given us great encouragement and hope that we will bring back Madeleine safely." (SOUNDBITE) (English) KATE MCCANN, MOTHER OF MISSING GIRL MADELEINE MCCANN, SAYING: "We can't even consider returning home at the moment, I absolutely can't even let it enter my head." CAMERA CREWS
- Embargoed: 30th May 2007 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Portugal
- Country: Portugal
- Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
- Reuters ID: LVAD5OJWOMCDT3KMX1XK0S2GUQ0K
- Story Text: A man being interviewed by Portuguese police after the abduction of Madeleine McCann has been driven away from the police station in which he was being questioned shortly before midnight.
Portuguese police sped away with a British man shortly before midnight on Monday (May 14) night from a police station where he was being questioned.
Meanwhile police were searching a villa up the road from where four-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann was snatched.
Local broadcaster SIC Noticias said a member of the family at the villa often spoke to reporters and had said Madeleine looked like his daughter in England.
Police sealed the villa for forensic tests, SIC Noticias said. The man is said to have helped Portuguese police and had acted as a translator.
While the police continued their search of the villa, British Ambassador to Portugal, John Buck, praised the their efforts.
"There are clearly impressive resources being devoted to this investigation, those resources are rightly primarily Portuguese. But we also have a number of British police officers working with Portuguese colleagues closely here in the Algarve." Buck said.
"When I spoke to the chief investigating officer today, he said that the collaboration between the Portuguese and British police was truly exceptional," he added.
Celebrity donations have pushed up the reward offered for Madeleine's safe return to 2.6 million pounds (5.14 million U.S. dollars).
Harry Potter author JK Rowling, tycoons Sir Philip Green and Sir Richard Branson, Wayne Rooney and Simon Cowell have all contributed and a special fighting fund is being set up.
Earlier Gerry McCann, the father of Madeleine McCann, said in a statement read to reporters: "First of all you know that we've been taking tremendous strength from the warmth and the spiritual outpouring which we have received here and from all around the world, and that has given us great encouragement and hope that we will bring back Madeleine safely."
His wife Katy, asked whether she was considering returning to Britain, said: "We can't even consider returning home at the moment, I absolutely can't even let it enter my head."
Shortly afterwards Gerry and Katy McCann left their apartment in the Praia da Luz resort on foot with their two other children.
They walked towards the community centre where they were having dinner the night their daughter Madeleine was snatched from her bed in the apartment a few metres away. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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