The Daily Express
Nick Fagge in Aachen
DNA samples are to be taken from a fugitive British paedophile linked to Madeleine McCann's disappearance. Private detectives hired by Kate and Gerry McCann will today fly to Germany in their hunt for clues. They want to question convicted pervert Raymond Hewlett over his whereabouts at the time Madeleine disappeared in May 2007. And yesterday it was revealed that German authorities want Hewlett, 64, to undergo a DNA test in the next few days.
The development comes as a fellow Briton claimed Hewlett confessed to being familiar with the layout of the Portuguese holiday apartment in Praia da Luz where Madeleine went missing. A former soldier who met Hewlett at a campsite in Morocco in June 2007 told how the pervert admitted parking his van close to the holiday complex on several occasions. Peter Verran, 46, said Hewlett was "obsessed" with the missing youngster. Hewlett - who is wanted in connection with at least one unsolved child sex attack in the UK - is in intensive care after an operation for throat cancer in the German city of Aachen.
The McCanns' investigation team, Dave Edgar, a former detective inspector, and former detective sergeant Arthur Cowley, do not have any jurisdiction in Germany nor any powers to compel Hewlett to answer their questions.
The McCanns' spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said: "Mr Hewlett has denied any involvement in Madeleine's abduction. "Our investigators hope he will see sense and co-operate by giving them whatever information needed so they can eliminate him from the investigation. "It's clear the man is ill and it is clear he has information that our investigators need. "It is also clear that our investigators will be speaking to him in the near future."
Yesterday Mr Verran told how Hewlett "brought Madeleine up straight away" after they met at the campsite in Chefchaouen in Morocco. He said:
"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. "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."
Hewlett had travelled to Morocco from Portugal with his German partner and children.
Previous Article
Peter Verran should be looked at more closely by the Detectives involved in this case. Especially his background in Cornwall and previous convictions. What are the odds that two men from the same regiment albeit years apart meet in a campsite in Morocco, one a paedophile and the other who has a dodgy childhood past and did not have a good army career and lies about his service and apparently worked with children after the army, 1 in a Million!!! Is someone missing something somewhere, it is my opinion both of them had something to do with it, and Maddie ended up in Morocco!!
Mar 4, 2010, 8:01:00 AM
Post a Comment