Madeleine's DNA was found in Murat's house, police claim

Last updated at 18:06 24 October 2007

Detectives searching for Madeleine McCann have told a Portuguese newspaper she WAS at the home of official suspect Robert Murat.

Officers claim traces of the missing four-year-old's hair and body fluids were found in at the Briton's villa.

The new allegations come as Mr Murat was due to be removed from the suspects' list after detectives failed to provide enough evidence to charge him.

Scroll down for more...

Suspect Robert Murat: traces of Madeleine's DNA were allegedly found at his house

But according to sources quoted in the newspaper 24 Horas DNA samples found in his house was Madeleine's.

Detectives claimed they matched traces found in the hire car rented by the Kate and Gerry McCann 25 days after Madeleine disappeared.

Mr Murat,33, an Anglo-Portuguese who lives at his mother's rambling walled villa Casa Liliana, was arrested two weeks after the youngster vanished from her parents's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, 60 yards away.

He became the first and only official suspect in the case until Kate and Gerry, both 39, were named by Portugal's Justice Ministry six weeks ago.

Sources alleged Mr Murat did not return to the house after his arrest on May 14 on suspicion of havimg been involved in Madeleine's disappearance.

The tell-tale traces were reportedly discovered during searches between June 10 and August 4.
Scroll down for more...

Madeleine disappeared on May 3

They explain why Portuguese police are refusing to drop their theory that Madeleine died in her parents' apartment and her body was hidden nearby until it could be removed from the area.
But Mr Murat's lawyer Francisco Pagarete insisted his client was innocent and would fight to clear his name.

He said: "My client is accused of a virtual crime.

"All he has done is to be a suspect in the early stages of the child's disappearance.
"I have read the statutes and there is no such crime."

Mr Murat will have a chance to clear his name next month.

Under Portugal's new penal code suspects cannot be held for more than six months without knowing details of the evidence against them.

Meanwhile new claims have been made that Gerry McCann organised a game of tennis in the days after his daughter Madeleine disappeared. In an allegation likely to infuriate the McCanns, a waiter at the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Laz said Gerry and Kate were "very cool" after she vanished and seemed less upset than their friends.

The waiter said: "What we found really strange was Gerry, days after the little girl disappeared, calmly playing tennis. He played with an old couple from England.

"I thought that everybody else in the group seemed more upset and stressed and bothered than the parents.

"They were so cool about it. I never saw them cry or anything. They played tennis and went jogging.

"They didn't seem as distraught as their friends. If my kid disappeared I'd go insane. I wouldn't be able to function. They'd have to lock me away."

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-489408/Madeleines-DNA-Murats-house-police-claim.html#ixzz1zxLP5v3f