Madeleine McCann Missing-Praia Da Luz, Portugal 3/05/07 #2

[Toler]

I scanned the Brit newspapers this evening [tomorrow there] not a peep, nada, nothing. Will check again in the am. xx

[Helen Back]

wish I could bring in the photo that accompanies this article:

Police probe Madeleine McCann paedophile Raymond Hewlett's quick escape from Portugal

By Justin Penrose 31/05/2009

British police probing the disappearance of Madeleine McCann want to know why paedophile Raymond Hewlett left Portugal so quickly after she vanished.

They have quizzed a witness who says sex attacker Hewlett told of being outside the apartment where Maddie was snatched "several times". Ex-ScotGuard Peter Verran, 46, was questioned by a detective from Leicestershire for two hours this week about his three months in Morocco with Hewlett, 64.

Peter told the Sunday Mirror: "He seemed interested in how Hewlett told me he packed up and left Portugal within 30 minutes shortly after Madeleine vanished."
Police also wanted to know how the convicted paedophile and drifter could afford to flee to North Africa, which would have cost him around £1,000. They want to find out if he was paid a large cash sum - and how he got his six children there without passports. "I said if he managed to get six in there was no reason he couldn't get seven," said Peter.

The detective took note of Hewlett's two mobile numbers and email address to track calls and messages at the time Madeleine was taken.

Private detectives working for Kate and Gerry McCann, who live in Rothley, Leics, also want to talk to Peter, who met Hewlett while on honeymoon.

Hewlett, who is now in Germany for cancer treatment, is wanted for questioning about sex attacks in the UK.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/05/31/police-probe-madeleine-mccann-paedophile-raymond-hewlett-s-quick-escape-from-portugal-115875-21402454/

[Helen Back]

Again, I'm photo challenged.  Article contains photo and drawing of Hewlett. 

Do you know this man?

June 2, 2009 
Maddie suspect spent long periods on the Costas

A DANGEROUS paedophile, who may be linked to the disapparance of three-year-old Maddie McCann, spent years drifting up and down the Algarve and southern Spain.

raymond-hewlett-maddie-suspRaymond Hewlett, who has six children, mostly stayed at campsites on the Costa del Sol and Costa de la Luz, it is understood.

But it is his whereabouts and knowledge of the Praia da Luz complex in Portugal, where Maddie went missing on May 3, 2007, that has led to him being investigated over her disappearance.

Hewlett, who has a track record of sex offences against girls, has revealed that he knew the layout of the Ocean Club holiday complex well.

He also admitted that he had parked his van – a blue dodge - outside Maddie’s apartment ‘many times’ and was staying less than an hour from the resort on the day she disappeared.

Hewlett - who left Portugal for Spain, and then Morocco, “in a hurry” after the disappearance - has a striking likeness to a man seen walking away from the complex with a young girl under his arm on the night (see pix above).

He was spotted by Gerry and Kate McCann’s friend Jane Tanner leading to a photofit drawing being released to the press.

Now the McCanns’ investigation team wants to interview the 64-year-old in the hope he can shed some light on the disappearance.

    “I have nothing to hide. I am willing to talk. I thought the Portuguese police closed this case long ago”

Hewlett, who is currently living in Germany, last night denied he was involved in the mystery. He said: “I have nothing to hide. I am willing to talk. I thought the Portuguese police closed this case long ago.”

It has emerged that Hewlett was based in Tavira, on the Spanish border, and then in Spain for much of last year.

A former soldier who lived with Hewlett on a campsite in Morocco from May to August 2007 told the Sunday Mirror he admitted parking a van close to the McCann’s complex on several occasions.

Peter Verran, 46, said: “He brought Madeleine up straight away. He went on and on about the McCanns. He said his three-year-old daughter looked like her.

“He was worried that because there had been reports that Madeleine may have been spirited away to Morocco, people might think his child was her.

MADDY: How she might look now

MADDY: How she might look now
Then he suddenly said, “Madeleine’s not in Morocco”.

“I asked him what he meant and he said he knew Praia Da Luz really well.

He knew the Ocean Club complex where the McCanns had been staying. He said he’d been there many times and had often parked his van close to the apartment.

“He said he knew the layout of the place, the flat and the restaurant where the McCanns and their friends had been eating when Maddie disappeared.

“He had a lot of detail. He said there was no way that the child could be taken without the parents seeing. He said they were lying.”

Hewlett had been apparently been ‘lying low’ at the campsite in Chefchaouen, in the Rif mountain.

According to Verran, in that time he only saw Hewlett leave the campsite once or twice. “He was never short of money though. I don’t know where he got his money from. He said he’d made cash from car boot sales.”

Hewlett told another couple that he was approached by some ‘Gypsy tourists’ in Portugal offering to buy his daughter just before Madeleine went missing.

They also recalled him mentioning a ‘business’ trip to Morocco, where there were several alleged sightings of Maddy after she went missing. UK-born Hewlett, a former soldier who previously lived in Blackpool, is being treated for throat cancer in hospital in Aachen.

He was jailed several times for sexually assaulting young girls and was once on Crimestoppers list of Most Wanted paedophiles.

Described by a judge as “extremely dangerous” he is now wanted for questioning by British detectives in connection with a separate indecent assault.

The McCanns hope that once officers from West Yorkshire Police have questioned Hewlett, who are currently in Germany their own investigators will speak to him.

http://www.theolivepress.es/2009/06/02/do-you-know-this-man/

[Toler]

  newsHome     News Sport TV&Showbiz Femail Health Science&Tech Money Debate Coffee Break Property Motoring Travel News Home World news Headlines Pictures Most read News Board Horoscopes My Stories Logout Login Find a Job Dating Wine E-Editions Feedback Thursday, Jun 04 2009 This Afternoon  19°C   This Evening 9°C   5-Day Forecast Paedophile Raymond Hewlett demands thousands to answer Maddie questionsBy Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 4:06 PM on 04th June 2009


Paedophile Raymond Hewlett has issued a brazen demand to be paid thousands of pounds to answer questions about the night Madeleine McCann went missing.
The child molester refused to speak to detectives hired by Kate and Gerry McCann unless they gave him a vast slice of the Madeleine Fund.
Hewlett, 62, who has a lifelong history of sexually abusing little girls, was in the Algarve when the three-year-old was snatched from her bed.
He is now in hospital in Germany recovering from throat cancer surgery, and has so far rebuffed efforts by the McCanns' investigators to interview him.
A source close to the McCanns told the Mail: 'He is actually demanding a fee to answer questions that could help the inquiry. It is truly reprehensible. There is no way anyone is going to pay him.'
  Pay day: Convicted paedophile Raymond Hewlett (left) and a sketch of a man allegedly seen close to the resort when Madeleine was abducted
Convicted paedophile Hewlett is also wanted for questioning by West Yorkshire police over an unsolved indecent assault on an eight-year-old in 1975.
Hewlett will have little choice over speaking to the police, but the McCanns' private investigators have no powers to compel him to answer their questions.
The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: 'We still need to speak to Mr Hewlett who remains a person of interest to the inquiry. We are confident that we will be able to speak to him in the near future, and we hope that he and his legal representative will see the sense in clearing his name.'
 Missing: Raymond Hewlett has been linked with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann

But as of this afternoon, Hewlett was still remaining firm on his repulsive demand. He has strenuously denied having anything to do with Madeleine's disappearance.
A friend of the McCanns said: 'It has been made abundantly clear to Hewlett that he is not going to get a penny from the Madeleine Fund. It would be like asking the victims to pay.
'He is saying he wants money to look after his kids if he dies, but no one is going to touch him with a bargepole. He should be more worried about being eliminated from the inquiry. If he truly has nothing to hide, he should be happy to come out and say it. He ought to be grateful that the detectives are willing to speak to him with a view to crossing him off their list of possible suspects.'
Two ex-policemen, former detective inspector Dave Edgar and former detective sergeant Arthur Cowley, are now in charge of the Madeleine hunt. They were hired by the McCanns after Spanish agency Metodo 3 failed to find any trace of their daughter.
Last week, the British detectives flew to Aachen in Germany to try to speak to Hewlett in hospital, but he rebuffed them.
Although he later changed his mind, they had already returned home empty-handed by then.
Former soldier Hewlett's German wife Marianna Schmuker initially agreed to help the investigators, but she has now enlisted a local lawyer on his behalf to 'negotiate' a fee for access.
 Kate and Gerry McCann who are still searching for their missing daughter
Hewlett is one of 38 paedophiles known to have been - or still be - in the Algarve when Madeleine vanished from her holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007.
The McCanns' detectives are building profiles on each of them and are understood to regard four or five of them as being particularly significant.
They are also examining possible links with seven other sex attacks on tourist children in which a paedophile has broken into a holiday apartment on the Algarve, over the past four years. Two of these attacks happened since Madeleine went missing. The investigators are convinced the answer to the Madeleine riddle lies close to where she disappeared.
Hewlett was an hour's drive up the coast in May 2007, living on a campsite with his wife and six children in a blue Dodge truck, which detectives would still like to trace. He later moved the family to a camp ground in Morocco.
Today, Hewlett's wife hung up the phone when asked about his demand for money.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1190856/Paedophile-Raymond-Hewlett-demands-money-answer-Madeleine-McCann-questions.html

[GramaMonkey]

Person of Interest....

http://mamanetbebe.blogspot.com/2009/05/person-of-interest-named-in-madeleine.html

[GramaMonkey]

Person of Interest....

http://mamanetbebe.blogspot.com/2009/05/person-of-interest-named-in-madeleine.html

Here he is....

[Toler]

 Paedophile Raymond Hewlett 'admits he saw Madeleine McCann twice' before she disappeared
By Sam Greenhill
Last updated at 1:27 AM on 06th June 2009
Paedophile Raymond Hewlett has allegedly said he saw Madeleine McCann twice before she vanished.
The Briton, 62, has previously insisted he was miles from Praia da Luz in the Portuguese Algarve when the three-year-old went missing in May 2007.
But yesterday he reportedly implied he had been close enough to see Maddie's distinctive flaw in her right eye.
 

Kate and Gerry McCann's spokesman yesterday said it was now 'imperative' cancer-stricken Hewlett is interviewed before he dies.
But he has told private detectives employed by the couple he will only reveal where he was the night Maddie vanished if they pay him thousands of pounds. The request has been refused.
The former soldier has been discharged after throat cancer surgery in the German city of Aachen a month ago.
His lawyer there confirmed he has 'a matter of weeks to live'.
Yesterday Bild newspaper, Germany's biggest, reported that Hewlett admitted seeing Madeleine twice and described the mark in her right eye.
The report is understood to be based on 'police sources' in Germany.
 Suspicious: Kate and Gerry McCann are said to be unsure of Hewlett's motives but are keen for him to be interviewed by police
But a McCann family friend added: 'It is impossible to know whether to believe anything Hewlett says.'
Friends of the McCanns say they are deeply suspicious of his motives after it was revealed that Hewlett has been trying to cash in on the tragedy by demanding money for answers.
A source close to the couple, who is refusing to pay up, said: 'He is playing a very dangerous game.

'He may think he is about to land the jackpot but if he is putting it about that he saw Madeleine, he might find some big policemen banging on his door instead.'
Until the truth of the alleged claims can be ascertained, the investigators are more anxious than ever to interview Hewlett.
The former soldier had throat cancer surgery in a hospital in the German city of Aachen a month ago.

However, he has now been discharged and his lawyer in Aachen confirmed that he has 'only a matter of weeks to live'.

Whether he knows anything concrete about what happened to Madeleine remains a mystery.
Clarence Mitchell, the McCann's spokesman, said: 'In the light of the Bild piece, this makes it even more imperative that Mr Hewlett gives any credible information that he may have about Madeleine to the investigators as a matter of priority.

'We hope that he and his representatives will see sense and facilitate this interview in the near future.'
A family friend added: 'It is impossible to know whether to believe anything Hewlett says. First he denies being in Praia da Luz, now he says he saw Madeleine.

'He has a long history of evading the law and lying about his activities.'

Earlier this week Hewlett was interviewed by West Yorkshire police who travelled to Germany to question him about child attacks dating back to 1975.
But they are not investigating Madeleine's disappearance so it is unlikely they asked him about her.
Hewlett's German wife Marianna Schmuker has removed his name from the nameplate outside their apartment in Aachen, and it is understood he has not gone back there. She hung up the phone when asked about him.
Two ex-policemen, former detective inspector Dave Edgar and former detective sergeant Arthur Cowley, are now in charge of the Madeleine hunt.

They were hired by the McCanns after Spanish agency Metodo 3 failed to find any trace of their daughter.
Last week, the British detectives flew to Aachen in Germany to try to speak to Hewlett in hospital, but he rebuffed them.

Although he later changed his mind, they had already returned home empty-handed by then.
Hewlett, who has been imprisoned three times in the UK for sex offences, is one of 38 paedophiles known to have been - or still be - in the Algarve when Madeleine vanished.

The McCanns' detectives are building profiles on each of them and are understood to regard four or five of them as being particularly significant.
They are also examining possible links with seven other sex attacks on tourist children in which a paedophile has broken into a holiday apartment on the Algarve, over the past four years.

Two of these attacks happened since Madeleine went missing.

The investigators are convinced the answer to the Madeleine riddle lies close to where she disappeared.
Hewlett was said to be an hour's drive up the coast in May 2007, living on a campsite with his wife and six children in a blue Dodge truck, which detectives would still like to trace.
He later moved the family to a camp ground in Morocco.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1191094/Paedophile-Raymond-Hewlett-admits-I-saw-Madeleine-McCann-twice-disappeared.html

[Toler]

 I saw Maddie twice, admits paedo suspectBy ANTONELLA LAZZERI

Published: Today
CHILD-SEX fiend Raymond Hewlett has sensationally admitted he TWICE saw Madeleine McCann before she vanished.

Hewlett, 64, claimed he was at the holiday resort where Maddie was kidnapped - and got so close to her that he could see the distinctive flaw in her right eye.

The pervert - who has a string of convictions for sexually assaulting young girls - is said to have made his confession to police who questioned him about a 1975 attack on an eight-year-old.


That is a dramatic U-turn after Hewlett previously claimed he had never been near the Ocean Club holiday complex in Praia da Luz, Portugal - where Maddie disappeared days before her fourth birthday in May 2007.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/maddie/2466650/I-saw-Maddie-twice-admits-paedo-suspect-Raymond-Hewlett.html

There's more at link.

[Toler]

Paedo Ray Hewlett says: "I've never seen Maddie before"  EXCLUSIVE by Simon Wright 6/06/2009

Dying pervert denies claims he admitted seeing Madeleine McCann before she vanished

 
The prime 'person of interest' of  hired cops probing Maddie McCann’s disappearance insisted last night: “I’ve never set eyes on her.”

Dying paedophile Raymond Hewlett, 64, angrily denied claims he was twice close enough to her to notice her distinctive right eye.

He said: “I have never seen her and anyone who says anything different is wrong.”

The pervert, who has a lifelong history of abusing little girls, was only a few miles from Praia Da Luz when Maddie vanished in 2007. But he claimed he had only been to the Portuguese resort in 2002.

He refuses to speak to investigators hired by the McCanns. But he was grilled at home in Aachen, Germany, by West Yorkshire police last week over the 1975 murder of schoolgirl Lesley Molseed and rape of a girl of eight in Yorkshire.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/06/06/paedo-ray-hewlett-says-i-ve-never-seen-maddie-before-115875-21420461/

This whole thing seems to be going in circles, if it wasn't so tragic it'd be comical. Poor parents, poor Madeleine.

[mizjay]

  newsHome     News Sport TV&Showbiz Femail Health Science&Tech Money Debate Coffee Break Property Motoring Travel News Home World news Headlines Pictures Most read News Board Horoscopes My Stories Logout Login Find a Job Dating Wine E-Editions Feedback Thursday, Jun 04 2009 This Afternoon  19°C   This Evening 9°C   5-Day Forecast Paedophile Raymond Hewlett demands thousands to answer Maddie questionsBy Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 4:06 PM on 04th June 2009


Paedophile Raymond Hewlett has issued a brazen demand to be paid thousands of pounds to answer questions about the night Madeleine McCann went missing.
The child molester refused to speak to detectives hired by Kate and Gerry McCann unless they gave him a vast slice of the Madeleine Fund.
Hewlett, 62, who has a lifelong history of sexually abusing little girls, was in the Algarve when the three-year-old was snatched from her bed.
He is now in hospital in Germany recovering from throat cancer surgery, and has so far rebuffed efforts by the McCanns' investigators to interview him.
A source close to the McCanns told the Mail: 'He is actually demanding a fee to answer questions that could help the inquiry. It is truly reprehensible. There is no way anyone is going to pay him.'
  Pay day: Convicted paedophile Raymond Hewlett (left) and a sketch of a man allegedly seen close to the resort when Madeleine was abducted
Convicted paedophile Hewlett is also wanted for questioning by West Yorkshire police over an unsolved indecent assault on an eight-year-old in 1975.
Hewlett will have little choice over speaking to the police, but the McCanns' private investigators have no powers to compel him to answer their questions.
The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: 'We still need to speak to Mr Hewlett who remains a person of interest to the inquiry. We are confident that we will be able to speak to him in the near future, and we hope that he and his legal representative will see the sense in clearing his name.'
 Missing: Raymond Hewlett has been linked with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann

But as of this afternoon, Hewlett was still remaining firm on his repulsive demand. He has strenuously denied having anything to do with Madeleine's disappearance.
A friend of the McCanns said: 'It has been made abundantly clear to Hewlett that he is not going to get a penny from the Madeleine Fund. It would be like asking the victims to pay.
'He is saying he wants money to look after his kids if he dies, but no one is going to touch him with a bargepole. He should be more worried about being eliminated from the inquiry. If he truly has nothing to hide, he should be happy to come out and say it. He ought to be grateful that the detectives are willing to speak to him with a view to crossing him off their list of possible suspects.'
Two ex-policemen, former detective inspector Dave Edgar and former detective sergeant Arthur Cowley, are now in charge of the Madeleine hunt. They were hired by the McCanns after Spanish agency Metodo 3 failed to find any trace of their daughter.
Last week, the British detectives flew to Aachen in Germany to try to speak to Hewlett in hospital, but he rebuffed them.
Although he later changed his mind, they had already returned home empty-handed by then.
Former soldier Hewlett's German wife Marianna Schmuker initially agreed to help the investigators, but she has now enlisted a local lawyer on his behalf to 'negotiate' a fee for access.
 Kate and Gerry McCann who are still searching for their missing daughter
Hewlett is one of 38 paedophiles known to have been - or still be - in the Algarve when Madeleine vanished from her holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007.
The McCanns' detectives are building profiles on each of them and are understood to regard four or five of them as being particularly significant.
They are also examining possible links with seven other sex attacks on tourist children in which a paedophile has broken into a holiday apartment on the Algarve, over the past four years. Two of these attacks happened since Madeleine went missing. The investigators are convinced the answer to the Madeleine riddle lies close to where she disappeared.
Hewlett was an hour's drive up the coast in May 2007, living on a campsite with his wife and six children in a blue Dodge truck, which detectives would still like to trace. He later moved the family to a camp ground in Morocco.
Today, Hewlett's wife hung up the phone when asked about his demand for money.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1190856/Paedophile-Raymond-Hewlett-demands-money-answer-Madeleine-McCann-questions.html

  I would think the reports of 7 other sex attacks on tourist children on the Algarve in which their apts. were broken into would be significant. Wonder who is investigating that? The original detectives didn't appear to be all that insightful.

I also wonder why they don't put more pressure on Hewlets wife. Living in such close quarters and living that lifestyle, even if she wasn't directly involved she may be willing to give info if she herself was in custody, especially if he actually did take the child and sell her. Madeleine would've had to have been with them all in the van at least for a period of time.

[Toler]

 Breaking NewsMadeleine Detectives Fail To Quiz Paedophile
9:09am UK, Thursday June 11, 2009

Final attempts by Madeleine McCann investigators to speak to a convicted paedophile about her disappearance have failed.
 
Hewlett has been jailed several times in the UK for sexually assaulting young girls



http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Madeleine-McCann-Detectives-Fail-To-Quiz-Paedophile-Raymond-Hewlett/Article/200906215301083?lpos=World_News_News_Your_Way_Region_5&lid=NewsYourWay_ARTICLE_15301083_Madeleine_McCann%3A_Detectives_Fail_To_Quiz_Paedophile_Raymond_Hewlett

[Toler]

Home News Top Stories 
Maddie suspect Raymond Hewlett admits he doesn't have an alibi for night she disappeared  EXCLUSIVE from Simon Wright in Aachen, Germany 14/06/2009

Convicted paedophile talks for the first time about Maddie investigation, but says he did not kill her.

 
Broken, frail, with only weeks to live, Raymond Hewlett is the man the McCanns fear could take the secrets of their daughter’s disappearance to the grave.

The convicted child rapist – who has been catapulted into the frame over the hunt for Madeleine – sits hunched up in a squalid German flat, gasping for breath as he finally breaks his silence.

“It’s obvious why they’re interested in me,” croaks Hewlett, 64. “But they can all think what they like. I didn’t kill the McCann girl. It’s the truth and it’s never going to change.”

The man jailed three times for sex attacks on girls today speaks out for the first time in a bid to clear his name amid the mountain of circumstantial evidence against him.

Hewlett, who has been in hiding ever since he was named in connection with the case, admits he was in the Algarve at the time Madeleine was snatched and, as our pictures show, that he looks strikingly similar to a sketch of a suspect with a pock-marked face seen lurking around the apartment.

And five weeks after she disappeared, he left Portugal for Morocco for a two-month-long “business trip”.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/06/14/maddie-suspect-raymond-hewlett-admits-he-doesn-t-have-an-alibi-115875-21438533/

There's more at link.

[pink angel]

Please let him tell what he knows before he dies. Deathbed confession. This family deserves some answers.

Praying for Maddie and her family this morning. May they get the answers to help bring Maddie home.

[klaasend]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,526382,00.html

Pedophile at Center of Madeleine McCann Case Won't Reveal Alibi
Monday , June 15, 2009



The dying pedophile at the center of the Madeleine McCann investigation says he has an alibi for the night she vanished — but he has no plans to reveal it.

Speaking publicly for the first time, Raymond Hewlett admits he was in the Algarve, Portugal, at the time Madeleine disappeared but would not say where.

"I have an alibi but why should I share it?" he said in an interview with the Sunday Mirror. "There is a person who can say where I was that day, but why should I bring them into this? I've done nothing wrong. Why should I have to prove it?"

Click here for photos from the case.

Hewlett, 64, has been jailed three times for sexually assaulting young girls. He denies killing Madeleine — and said he would take a lie detector test to prove it.

"I'll take any test you like. The only time I've seen Madeleine McCann is on missing posters. And I saw her on TV in a bar once," he said.

"But I've never seen her in real life."

A former soldier who previously lived in the English towns of Blackpool and Telford, Hewlett has been receiving treatment for throat cancer in Aachen, Germany. But the Mirror claims he has just weeks to live after doctors told him there is nothing more they could do.

Madeleine was nearly four when disappeared in Praia da Luz in the Algarve on May 3, 2007. Her parents were dining with friends nearby.

[JessStar]

I hope this guy is experiencing a prolonged and angonizingly painful death.  For what he's doing here, and what he's done in the past, he's the epitome of evil, and deserves to suffer. I say take away the morphine, and readminister it only after he tells his alibi.

[Toler]

Raymond Hewlett faces more questioning over missing Madeleine McCann  18/06/2009

 
Pervert Raymond Hewlett’s lies were unravelling last night as he faced renewed questioning over missing Madeleine McCann.

The convicted paedophile rekindled suspicion after it was revealed he tried to mislead detectives over the vehicle he was driving at the time the youngster vanished.

He claimed he only had one motor – a blue Dodge truck. And he said it was so distinctive that he could not have driven into Praia da Luz in May 2007 without being spotted.

But now a former friend has dramatically come forward to say Hewlett was lying.

He actually owned a white Mercedes van at the time – similar to one seen parked near the McCanns’ apartment before Madeleine disappeared.

Ex-Scots Guard Peter Verran, 46, decided to contact the Maddy inquiry team after being disturbed by Hewlett’s claims in our sister paper, the Sunday Mirror.

Mr Verran, who befriended Hewlett on a campsite in Morocco in June 2007, said: “He told me he owned a white Transit-type van before his blue Dodge truck.

“He said he’d swapped it for the Dodge in order to leave Portugal and travel to Morocco.

“The white van didn’t have enough room for the whole family, so he sold it to a pal who traded on the same market as him in Fuzeta, about 40 miles from Praia da Luz.”

Last month it was revealed a witness had seen a man apparently staking out the McCanns’ apartment, standing near a white van.

According to Mr Verran, Hewlett also said that he had driven from Portugal’s Algarve to Spain in the Mercedes van around the time Madeleine vanished.

But Hewlett, who was living near Praia da Luz, insisted recently that he only had the Dodge truck.

Advertisement - article continues below »


Protesting his innocence, he said: “If you’d gone in our truck you couldn’t have got away with it, driving that about. You’d have stood out like a sore thumb.”

He added: “Our truck was our only vehicle. I didn’t have another vehicle to go anywhere in. It’s a high-profile vehicle.”

When they met in Morocco, Hewlett, 64, told Verran that he’d become obsessed with the case of the missing girl. He admitted being outside the holiday flat “many times” and parking his van close to the complex.

A source close to the Maddy inquiry team said yesterday: “This new information could be very significant. Hewlett has repeatedly said that he could not have been at the scene without someone remembering his distinctive truck.

“But if he was driving a Mercedes van at the time, his reasoning is shot to pieces.

“And it would raise the question of why he lied about the vehicle in the first place.” It is not known if Hewlett owned the white van and the truck at the same time, or one after the other. But Mr Verran’s recollection is that he bought the Dodge for the trip to Morocco – AFTER Madeleine vanished.

Hewlett admits he was in the Algarve at the time. He told friends he was offered money by “gipsy tourists” to sell his own three-year-old blonde-haired daughter just before Maddy vanished. He says he left Portugal five weeks later for a two-month “business trip”. But last night there were also doubts over his assertion that he caught a ferry from Faro to Morocco. He claimed: “I knew people on the docks at Faro and I got the captain of a ferry to take us over for free.” But there is NO public ferry service between Faro and Morocco.

Hewlett also said he stayed at a campsite in Morocco for at least two months and made 300 euros selling car parts.

Questions were being asked how he afforded to remain for so long when the campsite cost 10 euros a night.  He would also have needed cash to feed his seven children and partner, and pay for petrol for his truck.

Hewlett, who is refusing to give an alibi for the night Madeleine vanished, was first brought to the attention of investigators by Alan and Cindy Thompson, who met him while on an extended holiday in Portugal.

Dave Edgar and Arthur Cowley, the detectives working for the Madeleine McCann fund, hoped to question him last month after the Mirror tracked him down to a hospital in Aachen, Germany, where he was being treated for throat cancer. But Hewlett refused to see them, claiming he was too ill to be questioned.

Hewlett was jailed three times in the UK for sex offences before beginning his nomadic lifestyle across Europe with his wife Mariana and their six children.

He is still being investigated by West Yorkshire police over an attack nearly 30 years ago.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/06/18/raymond-hewlett-faces-more-questioning-over-missing-madeleine-mccann-115875-21452602/

[Toler]

  Hopes To Quiz Inmate Over Madeleine  Top StoriesMadeleine Hunt Targets Murder Suspect
11:03pm UK, Saturday June 20, 2009

Private detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann want to speak to a man who is currently on remand in a British jail, it has been revealed.
 
Madeleine disappeared in 2007



The man, who is accused of murder, is one of seven people the team hired by Madeleine's parents to hunt for the little girl hope to interview, a source confirmed.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Madeleine-McCann-Private-Detectives-Hope-To-Quiz-British-Inmate/Article/200906315313317?f=rss
Madeleine, from Rothley, Leics, was nearly four when she went missing while on holiday with her family in Portugal two years ago.

Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for the McCanns, said: "A number of individuals remain as persons of interest to the Madeleine investigators.

"However, the investigators will not be naming or identifying any of those persons of interest.

"No competent investigation would be expected to do so whilst the inquiries continue."

Madeleine disappeared from Praia da Luz in the Algarve on May 3, 2007 while her parents Gerry and Kate McCann dined with friends nearby.

Despite a massive police investigation and huge publicity worldwide, she has not been found.

[Toler]

   Sorry mods, I don't know why the link posted in the middle of that article.

[AZSunny]

Hi Toler, 

Thank you for all the articles.  It is encouraging to see some potential movement in this tragic case.   Such a beautiful child.

[Toler]

Maddie McCann suspect's wife: No one can give him an alibi  Exclusive: By Simon Wright 21/06/2009

 
Raymond Hewlett (Pic: SM)

The wife of Madeleine McCann suspect Raymond Hewlett yesterday admitted that NO ONE can give him an alibi.

German-born Mariana, 33, confessed that a female friend who Hewlett insisted could vouch for him on the day Madeleine vanished cannot remember where he was.

Convicted paedophile Hewlett, 64, won't name the woman.

In an interview with the Sunday Mirror last week, he claimed she was with him on the day Madeleine vanished.

He said she would remember because she shot a home video of him and his family at a flea market in the town of Fuzeta, 30 miles from Praia da Luz, on May 5, 2007 - two days later.

But he refused to reveal the German woman's identity, saying: "I don't think I should involve anybody. Why should I keep dragging people into this?" But last night, as dad-of-six Hewlett drifted closer to death from throat cancer, Mariana said: "The truth is, she cannot remember where Ray was. She can't give him an alibi. No one can."

 
Mariana, 33 (Pic:Harry Page)

The Sunday Mirror has also learned that Hewlett befriended two families of Portuguese gipsies in the weeks leading up to Madeleine's disappearance. Theories that Madeleine was snatched by gipsies have surrounded the case.

Chillingly, Hewlett told a friend that gipsies had offered him "good money" for his own two-year-old blonde-haired daughter.

Former Scots Guard Peter Verran, 46, shared a Moroccan campsite with Hewlett between June and November 2007.

He said: "He told me gipsies wanted to pay good money for her and he'd met some who traded in children and sold them to paedophiles."

Last week, Hewlett dismissed those claims as "rubbish".

But another former close pal of his in the Portuguese town of Tavira - where his family used to park their truck - revealed how, in April 2007, he developed a close friendship with two gipsy families.

 
Leonardo Leopoldo (Pic:SM)

Us-born artist Leonardo Leopoldo, 79, who has lived in Tavira - 40 miles from Praia da Luz - for 10 years, said: "No one spoke to the gipsies apart from Ray. He was always talking to them.

"There was talk in the area that they sold children to paedophiles. By the time, Madeleine was snatched, he was very friendly with them."

Leonardo said he was stunned to learn of Hewlett's past convictions for child sex attacks.

He said he had grown fond of him, Mariana and the couple's seven children after first meeting them in the summer of 2002.

"I thought they were lovely," he said. "Now, everything is different."

The Sunday Mirror tracked down another close pal of Hewlett's - British expat Jenny Day - who the McCanns' private detectives have been keen to interview but unable to trace.

 
Jennifer Day (Pic:SM)

Divorced Jenny, who is in her fifties, admitted she could not provide Hewlett with an alibi and told how she had been shattered by revelations of his criminal past.

Speaking at her beach-side apartment in Santa Luzia, 30 miles from Praia da Luz, she said: "I loved Ray, but not now. I met him 10 years ago and thought he was a loving father. To find out that he had committed the crimes he had was shattering.

"I didn't shoot the home video being talked about and I cannot provide Ray with an alibi for the day Madeleine went missing."

Hewlett's wife remains convince he had nothing to do with Madeleine's disappearance.

Speaking from the couple's tiny flat in Aachen, Germany, she added that claims he had lied about a white van he supposedly owned at the time were "simply wrong".

A friend of Hewlett's said that he had owned a white van similar to one seen parked near the McCanns' apartment before Madeleine's disappearance.

But Hewlett insists a blue Dodge truck was the only vehicle he owned at the time.

He admits to leaving Portugal for Morocco three weeks later, but insisted if he'd been in Praia da Luz at the time, the truck meant he would have "stuck out like a sore thumb".

Mariana added: "We've never owned a white van. We had a grey van when we first arrived in Portugal in 2002.

"In August 2004, we swapped it for the Dodge and kept that until March 2008."


http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/06/21/maddie-suspect-s-wife-no-one-can-give-him-an-alibi-115875-21458806/