Daily Express
Pendiente de traducción
Sunday August 9,2009
By James Murray and Ted Jeory
A MULTI-MILLIONAIRESS could be interviewed by Madeleine McCann investigators this week over the movements of her luxury motor cruiserThe Australian socialite, who is believed to be aboard the £5million yacht this weekend, cruising in the Mediterranean, is aware that she has become embroiled in the international hunt for Madeleine.
It is believed the vessel was berthed in Barcelona’s marina in early May 2007 when a woman said to resemble Victoria Beckham asked a British man: “Have you got her? Have you got the child?
The conversation took place near El Rey de la Gamba restaurant at the Olympic marina at 2am, some 72 hours after Madeleine, then three, vanished from her holiday apartment on Portugal’s Algarve coast. The Australian-sounding woman apparently mistook the man for someone she was expecting to meet with a child.
Former detectives hunting Madeleine McCann only became aware of the bizarre conversation six weeks ago when the man came forward to provide a statement and help produce an e-fit with the assistance of Cheshire Police. Members of the woman’s family have become aware of the interest and have been in contact with her.
The hope is that some time this week she will make herself available to the McCann investigators, possibly during a stop-off at a Mediterranean port.
The Sunday Express knows the identity of the woman, but she cannot be named for legal reasons.
Investigators are looking into the movement of all motor cruisers and other boats in Barcelona in early May 2007, particularly focussing on where the vessels had arrived from.
The development comes as details matching the identity of the woman being sought by detectives over Madeleine’s disappearance have been passed to police in Australia. A woman has told New South Wales officers that she knows the name of the person who spoke to a British man outside the bar in Barcelona.
The woman who provided the crucial new lead was interviewed in Sydney by police on Friday afternoon, 18 hours after investigators working for the McCann family released the e-fit, since widely published in Australian newspapers. Police would not say if they had received any other calls.
A spokeswoman for New South Wales Police said last night: “A Sydney woman provided a formal statement to detectives. She claims to know the identity of the woman being sought by the private investigators attached to the McCann family.”
David Edgar and Arthur Cowley, retired detectives working for the McCanns, are expected to contact the Australian federal authorities tomorrow.
Among the pieces of information passed to the investigators from people in Europe and Australia are “dozens” of possible names for an e-fit of the woman, described as a Victoria Beckham lookalike.
Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, said: “Since the appeal on Thursday investigators have had more than 600 pieces of information come into the inquiry via e-mail and telephone calls.
“Among it all are a number of viable leads, all of which are being assessed and prioritised as necessary.”
Madeleine was nearly four when she went missing from the holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007, while her parents dined with friends nearby.
Two British men who saw the woman in the e-fit said she was well-dressed but appeared agitated as if she was waiting to meet somebody.
