11 November 2007
The News of the World
Daniel Sanderson
Evidence found on clothes may be profile of abductor
POLICE believe they may have found vital DNA left by the abductor of missing four-year-old Madeleine McCann.
It was taken from strands of hair discovered in a bag of clothes dumped at a Portuguese roadside-which also held a green child's T-shirt with DNA links to Maddie.
The hairs were on an adult's blue fleece and a pair of jeans.
Detectives are now checking all known Portuguese child sex offenders, trying to link the DNA with a name.
Police sources in Portugal last night described the news as a significant breakthrough.
One said:
"DNA was found on the clothes that didn't match Madeleine's. This is a big step forward.Last week we revealed how the white carrier bag was found in a lay-by near Faro airport, about 50 miles from the resort of Praia da Luz where Maddie disappeared on May 3 The clothes inside were tested at a UK forensic lab in Birmingham. Its report shows two hairs contained sufficient information to compile a strong DNA profile.
"The bag could have huge significance because it could finally give us a trail that could lead us to her."
Police are now working on the theory that whoever dumped the bag-which also contained a pink and blue pencil case with heart motif-could have snatched Maddie.
Meanwhile, mystery fingerprints found on shutters of the McCann family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz have finally been identified-and they belong to A COP.
Bungling police wasted weeks checking this clue before British experts asked if they had eliminated all the police.
Officers who attended the scene were eventually rounded up and fingerprinted, revealing the culprit's identity.
MADDIE'S distraught parents Kate and Gerry McCann are preparing to be quizzed "any day" by Portuguese cops.
Detectives are expected to travel to Leicestershire soon to re-interview the couple.
They will also quiz close pals dubbed the Tapas Seven, who dined in a restaurant with the couple on the night Maddie vanished.
and Lucy Panton lucy.panton @notw.co.uk
£ 1.5M REWARD FOR MADDIE'S SAFE RETURN: DETAILS AT NOTW.CO.UK
Previous Article
