Madeleine suspect knows who took her

1 September 2010
UK Parent's Lounge



Raymond Hewlett became a key suspect in the hunt for Madeleine McCann when it was revealed that the convicted paedophile was close to the McCann family in Praia da Luz, Portugal. Investigators searching for Madeleine wanted to talk to Hewlett, who was in hospital dying of cancer, but he did not wish to speak to them.

Now, The Sun newspaper reveals Hewlett wrote a letter prior to his death, in which he said he knows who took the girl in 2007 prior to her 4th birthday. Estranged son Wayne said he received the letter a week after his father's death in April 2010 and shook when he read the comments about Madeleine.

Hewlett said in the letter that he did not want to die with his family thinking he had done such a terrible thing, and that he knew a gipsy famioly in Portugal who had stolen children to order for wealthy childless couples. He said one member of the family had boasting about taking Madeleine after getting drunk.

The claims in the letter may be treated with some suspicion, however, considering earlier reports in the Sunday Mirror from a holidaying couple who met Hewlett in 2007 and heard him accusing Gerald and Kate McCann of being involved in Madeleine's disappearance.

Hewlett's sone Wayne said he burned the letter because it unnerved him so much.