Nick Fagge
3 December 2007
The Daily Express
A BRITISH diplomat warned the Foreign Office of concerns regarding Madeleine McCann's parents, it emerged last night.
Doubts about Kate and Gerry McCann were raised almost immediately by an official sent to Praia da Luz due to what he considered to be "inconsistencies" in the couple's testimonies about the night the four-year-old vanished.
The warning was contained in a classified document sent from the Algarve to the Foreign Office days after Madeleine's disappearance.
Details of the letter have been leaked through the British diplomatic mission in Brussels to the respected Belgian newspaper Derniere Heure.
The unnamed diplomat voices his concern about the "confused declarations" as to the whereabouts of Kate and Gerry McCann and their friends in the final hours before Madeleine's disappearance.
He also mentions the couple's "lack of co-operation" with the Portuguese police in the light of instructions from London suggesting consular staff "overstretch their authority and put pressure on the Portuguese authorities".
The document also asks for confirmation of orders sent by the Foreign Office in London the day before, commanding embassy staff to give "all possible assistance to the McCann couple".
Diplomats on the Algarve were told the McCanns had to be "accompanied at all times during any contact with the Portuguese police" by a member of consular staff or by British police officers sent out from the UK.
The letter, sent just days after Madeleine disappeared, warns of the risks of siding with the McCanns so completely.
Excerpts published in a report by La Derniere Heure quote the diplomat as saying: "With the greatest respect, I would like to make you aware of the risks and implications to our relationship with the Portuguese authorities, if you consider the possible involvement of the couple.
"Please confirm to me, in the light of these concerns, that we want to continue to be closely involved in the case as was requested in your previous message."
A huge team of diplomats have been involved in the case since Gerry McCann asked the Foreign Office for help.
In an unprecedented move, the then Prime Minister Tony Blair despatched special envoy Sheree Dodd, a former Fleet Street journalist, to Portugal to act as a "media liaison officer" for the McCann family.
Direct government communications with the McCanns came to an abrupt halt, however, when the couple were made official suspects in the case in September.
Portuguese detectives believe it is possible Madeleine died as the result of an accident on May 3 in the family's holiday apartment and that her parents hid and later disposed of her body with the help of their friends.
The couple have always said they had nothing to do with their daughter's disappearance.
The Belgian report says it is highly significant that almost all of the diplomats involved at the outset have now been taken off the case.
Special envoy Sheree Dodd has since resigned from the Foreign Office, the British consul in the Algarve Bill Henderson has retired and the British ambassador to Portugal John Buck is no longer in Portugal.
Last night the Foreign Office refused to comment on the report.
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