Geplaatst: 20-07-20 20:57 Citaat:Detectives trying to find Madeleine McCann spent four trying to identify a man seen carrying a child the night she disappeared - despite a doctor saying it was probably him.
Julian Totman said he walked near the McCann's apartment holding his two-year-old daughter after collecting her from a creche at the resort in Praia da Luz in 2007.
Despite this Portuguese police officers - and Scotland Yard detectives - continued to pursue the sighting of the man as a line of inquiry which was trigged by Jane Tanner, a friend of Kate and Gerry McCann, reports The Sun.
Jane Tanner said she saw a man wearing a brown jacket, tan trousers and dark shoes carrying a child wearing pink and white pyjamas the night Madeleine disappeared.
Dr Totman matches the physical description of the man and also wore the same clothes.
He was quizzed by the Guarda Nacional Republicana soon after Madeleine, three, vanished.
His wife Rachel told The Sun: "My husband had told the local police it could be him but we didn’t hear anything for years.
“When the police finally realised the significance it was too late to really help.
“We always thought it was Julian who was seen by Jane Tanner."
Jane Tanner was one of seven family and friends who ate tapas with the McCann's at the time their daughter disappeared.
She was on her way to check on her kids at 9.15pm when she saw the man featured in the widely-shared sketch.
Kate McCann discovered her eldest child was missing at 10pm that evening.
Ms Tanner later defied police orders to not comment on what she saw.
She said: “I think it’s important that people know what I saw because I believe Madeleine was abducted.’’
And with Portuguese laws prohibiting the release of photofits of suspects, the McCanns put out an artist’s sketch of “Tannerman” in October 2007.
The Portuguese probe was concluded in July 2008 and it was not until 2011 when then-Home Secretary Theresa May ordered the Metropolitan Police carry out a review the Totmans’ account was finally taken seriously.
Det Chief Insp Andy Redwood described it as a “moment of revelation”.
He said: “We are almost certain now this sighting [Tannerman] is not the abductor.”
The British police investigation to find missing Madeleine is likely to be shelved in October with funds running low
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