Maddie lead-suspect is a monster.

http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/102838


THE daughter of the convicted paedophile wanted for questioning over the disappearance of Madeleine McCann said last night that she does not care if he dies.

Gina Hewlett, 41, said she would never forgive serial sex beast Raymond Hewlett for what he had done.

The father of eight, who has a string of convictions against children stretching back to the 1970s, is dying of cancer in a German hospital. But Gina, whose life has been shattered by her father’s crimes, said she had no sympathy for him.

The chef, from Telford, Shropshire, said: “We didn’t know if he was dead or alive, but now we have heard about all this we don’t really care.

“While he is hundreds of miles away in Germany being treated in a hospital the rest of his family are here bearing the brunt of what he might have done. We’re having to pick up the pieces and deal with all the trouble he’s caused.”

Hewlett, 67, was named as a suspect in the hunt for Madeleine after it was revealed he was living less than an hour’s drive from Praia da Luz in Portugal when she disappeared.



The drifter, who bears a striking resemblance to the sketch of the only known suspect in the case, is also wanted for questioning by West Yorkshire police about the abduction and serious sexual assault of an eight-year-old girl from Manchester in 1975.

Gina said: “Over the years we’ve had hate mail sent to us and firebombs thrown through our window, all when he was linked to paedophile offences.

“Now he’s being linked with taking Madeleine it will all kick off again. We don’t have any sympathy for him and we never will, even when he’s on his deathbed. We will never forgive him for what he’s done in the past.”

Detectives working for Kate and Gerry McCann are planning to speak to Hewlett at the earliest possible opportunity but face a race against time as he is losing his battle against throat cancer. He is in intensive care in a teaching hospital in the German town of Aachen.

Last night medical staff at the high- dependency unit of the Universitats­klinikum told the Daily Express Hewlett was too ill to receive visitors.

The sister in charge of the intensive care ward said: “Mr Hewlett cannot speak to anyone. He is too ill to have visitors. Maybe after the weekend he will be able to receive visitors if he gets better and is transferred to a normal ward. He has a difficult story and the doctor has said no one can see him.”

Hewlett has spent the past decade living a nomadic lifestyle, travelling through Europe with his 32-year-old German wife Marianne Schmucker and their five children.

But he was living near the Portuguese-Spanish border when Madeleine disappeared.



One British police source said last night: “Hewlett is one of the most dangerous paedophiles we have ever encountered. It is vital we get to him before he dies and takes any secrets he may have to the grave.”

Madeleine disappeared from her parents’ holiday apartment at the Ocean Club Resort in Praia da Luz on the evening of May 3 2007.

Hewlett, a former soldier, trawlerman and fairground worker, has an horrific record of crimes against children and has been on the Crimestoppers wanted list for the past two years.

In 1972 he was jailed for a year after being convicted of raping a 12-year-old girl he lured into his car and knocked out with paint stripper.

A previously issued artist's rendering of a man seen in the Praia da Luz area of Portugal

Six years later he received a four-year sentence for the attempted rape of a 14-year-old girl he threatened with a gun. And in 1988 he was jailed again after abducting a 14-year-old news­paper delivery girl in North Wales.

A court heard how he threatened the terrified teenager with a knife before forcing her into the boot of his car and driving her to a remote spot 100 miles away where he sexually assaulted her. After his release from jail he moved to Scotland and later Ireland where he and Schmucker travelled around in order to evade detection.

Eventually the pair moved to a hippy commune near the Spanish-Portuguese border, where they set up home on a caravan park with their five young children.

Hewlett was diagnosed with cancer last year and was undergoing treatment at the Hospital Infanta Elena in the Spanish town of Huelva, where a five-year-old local girl, Mari Luz Cortes, went missing in January. Her body was later discovered in a nearby lake.

Weeks before British detectives were due to question him, he checked himself out of hospital and disappeared. Hewlett, who is not on the sex offenders’ register because his crimes occurred before the legislation was introduced, was interviewed by Portuguese detectives investigating Madel­eine’s disappearance but his involvement was ruled out when a 15-year-old girl provided him with an alibi.

Hewlett’s name has also been linked to the 1975 murder of 11-year-old Lesley Molseed, whose body was found on the moors near her Rochdale home.

Hewlett’s 15-year-old girlfriend at the time provided him with an alibi, but she later admitted lying, claiming she thought the case was about a ­stolen car.

This is what worries me, I said to Rosie yesterday I'm fearful the b@stard will die before they get time to interrogate him. Maybe whilst he is in hospital they could administer the truth drug! :nurse:

[quote]

="Tinkerbell43"]This is what worries me, I said to Rosie yesterday I'm fearful the b@stard will die before they get time to interrogate him. Maybe whilst he is in hospital they could administer the truth drug! :nurse:

If this Hewlett is a fall guy, then he will have been very well chosen - won't he?

If he is a fall guy and dies; or we are led to belive he has died, the case will close. Couldn't have made a better choice, could they ?

Then if others (elites?) are behind the abduction: they will be free to go about their ways, as they like, and after a suitable gap start up again.

Sorry to be so cynical, but this is just too perfect - seems like another red Herring to me.

I hope I am wrong.

I do not think this person is a fall guy, if he is then they have sure taken a long time for him to appear on the radar. Surely he would have appeared as a fall guy long ago to stop this whole thing escalating the way it has, damaging Portugal's reputation.

I keep saying this, the detectives who are investigating Madeleine's disappearance are highly skilled and have many years experience each, in these kind of crimes and now they are expert cold case detectives, I believe they know what they are doing and I have every faith in them.

This appears to me another in an extremely long list of errors committed by Goncalo Amaral.
They knew of his whereabouts, interviewed him and then allowed him to go, not even checking if he was wanted in the UK.

The news coming out about him this evening is confirming more and more in my mind this is an extremely important lead and may even be the breakthrough.

All the police with experience in these things said the person that abducted Madeleine would be known in the system and he is.
He was in the area and has made a slip up, he said he knew where he was when Madeleine went missing, but gave an account of a market on he Sunday while Madeleine vanished on a Thursday.
There has been a string of sex attacks and intruders reported on children in the Algarve, all seem to concur when Hewlett was around.
One report an intruder was actually disturbed in a child's room.

There are many reasons why I believe this and the more I think the more he could be connected.
Take the Dutch sighting, I think in light of what we now know about Hewlett, this sighting becomes even more plausible.

Anna Stam reported seeing a strange looking couple in her shop with a child she thought could have been Madeleine and two other noisy children, apparently she also said the man looked very unpleasant.

The child, the same age as Madeleine and with distinctive huge eyes, spoke English and called herself Maddie.

The couple, who said they were from a circus, brought the girl into the party goods shop days after Madeleine McCann went missing from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal.
Then the little girl stood before me and asked me in English, ‘Do you know where my mummy is?’ I answered that her mother was a little bit further back in the shop and she answered, ‘She is not my mummy.’ I asked her who the woman was and she said, ‘She is a stranger, she took me from my mummy.’ I noticed the little girl spoke good English without an accent. Next I asked the little girl what her name was and she said, ‘My name is Maggie.’ At least that’s what I thought she said. When I repeated it, the little girl said, ‘No, my name is Maddie.’
I still remember that because I thought it was a rare name. I then asked her where she had last seen her mother and she answered, ‘They took me from my holiday.’

They were known to have left Portugal soon after Madeleine disappeared. Also apparently they got rid of their blue Dodge truck which had been converted to a mobile home and were driving a WHITE VAN. This also fits in with a white van being seen in the vicinity.

Now because of a tragic accident where one of their children fell out of this van en route to Germany and was killed, this van was impounded by the ?Spanish authorities and they still have it! It was impounded because apparently the coupled and their other children did not realise that h their son David had fallen out onto the road, only realising a while later they then turned back, but unfortunately the poor little boy had died. The van was found to have NO tax, NO insurance and NO MOT, which is why it was taken away.

My point is this, as the Spanish authorities still have this van, it must be available for forensic testing, so I hope it does get examined as any DNA from Madeleine, may still be in that van (if she was ever in there) Or if she had mixed with these children ot the adults, then her DNA is very likely to be in it! It was a white Ford Cargo van. Also I would have thought that police may be very ken to get their hands on this Blue Doge truck and test that for Madeleine's DNA.

Four of Hewlett’s young children were in the back of the van without seats or seatbelts, it is believed.

The vehicle is not thought to have been insured or taxed and did not have a valid MoT certificate.
The family later continued their trip to Germany by train. David was buried in an unmarked grave.
An investigation by German police is still going on. Hewlett has had to regularly report to the British embassy in Frankfurt in relation to the inquiry. He could be charged with causing death by negligence if police decided he was at fault.
Hewlett is already under investigation by German authorities over David’s death. The boy fell from the back of a white Ford Cargo van Hewlett was driving.
The accident happened near Seville in southern Spain as the family headed from Portugal to Germany early this year.
Hewlett later said: “I went on quite a few kilometres and didn’t know it had happened until I turned off. We had to turn around and go back to where it happened on the motorway.
“After the accident the police took the keys off me and put a steering lock on to the van.
“They need to keep it to check whether there were any mechanical problems.”

With all this police activity and different police forces wanting to talk to him, I doubt if this is a fall guy, I don't think these police forces would be too happy about their time being wasted. This is a man tha could not even tell the truth about his van in an accident where his little boy was killed!

Also I always thought it was convenient how they found the person that was arrested for the murder of poor little Mari luz-Cortez in Huelva, now this man is also and hours drive away from there too?

Come on this is serious, all these abductions with this man around? where was he camped 2 years previous to Madeleine's disappearance when Joana Cipriano vanished? A man was seen camping in a van near where she vanished from too.

Some thing is very wrong here and it has been missed by Goncalo Amaral - buffoon.

How long has this animal been camped out in the Algarve and Spanish borders? Wonder if he made any business trips to Gran Canaria too?

With regard to him being moved to intensive care, I have no way of knowing of course and he may well be deteriorating BUT if I were in charge of a ward and a patient was going to become a focal point for loads of journalists trying to get in to see him (as one actually has, hence the picture) then I would move him to a secure place where there are plenty of staff around and which is usually kept on a buzzer admittance to the ward, so it is pretty secure and safe from prying eyes. He 'may' not be dying, he could actually be recovering, so I would not read too much into that. I would imagine that he is now under police guard too.

Sounds exciting Rosie. I hope I am wrong with my cynicism.

Could he work for someone else, as part of a group do you think, or simply operate on his own?

I am tending to think part of a group, but it is only a gut feeling. can't shake it off about this man. I am probably wrong, but so many blanks get filled in since he appeared. It is this that is spooking me out, I don't want it to be him, it scares the life out of me. But if it is and there s no body, then there is reasonable cause for optimism that she is alive.

I cant get over the death of the child David. How can a child fall from the back of the car, without any of the other children or the parents seeing?

In my local area, a young boy disappeared a coupld of years ago, he was only 2. His father was looking after him and said that he was killed when he accidentally fell out of the back of a ute. Sounds plausible, but why would a 2 yo be in the back of a ute. Anyway, what hapened next is why I am relating this. The little boy's body was then taken and hidden and has never been found.

I suspect, as does the little boy's grandmother, and the whole local community that the father killed the little boy, probably beat him to death, and then hid the body to prevent that being seen, and came up with the fell out of the back of the ute story.

It just went to court again, but I dont know the outcome, I dont get the local paper, and even Mum who does get the local paper doesnt know the outcome. I think it was a coroner's inquest only.

I must explain, this man is aboriginal, and it seems that in this country a little aboriginal boy doesnt deserve the same justice as a little white boy. If it werent for his grandmother continuously pushing the authorities to do something, I dont think that anything would happen at all. By way of explanation, this case hasnt even made the national papers. If the toddler was white it would have been on the national news, in all the papers, all hell would have broken loose. ( I am probably being branded a racist as I write this but I live in the outback and we see regularly the justice problems associated with the aboriginal community, both where they are unjustly accused of crimes and where serious crimes are often overlooked because they occur within the aboriginal community, as well as the ever increasing incidence of drug and alcohol fuelled violence).

Anyway, the reason for saying he fell out of the ute at high speed is to account for the damage done to the body, if he were severly beaten, particulalry if the body is not found for months or years.

Does any of this sound familiar?

This little David fell out of the van at high speed, and died, and they buried him in an unmarked grave. The articles dont make it clear if the grave has been identified.

Those children deserve better than to have a paedophile for a father and to have no stable home life, and litle David deserved better than to lose his life and be buried in an unmarked grave.

Rosie, Sadie

If he did take Madeleine and his wife was complicit, then she would also know what happened to Madeleine. If Madeleine travelled with them for any length of time, she would definitely know that. I wonder if she has been questioned yet.

dianeh wrote:Rosie, Sadie

If he did take Madeleine and his wife was complicit, then she would also know what happened to Madeleine. If Madeleine travelled with them for any length of time, she would definitely know that. I wonder if she has been questioned yet.

I agree with your thoughts about this poor little boy, this is exactly what I thought too, poor little mite. When he was questioned,he said the authorities seized his van because they need to check it over for faults, lies! They impounded it because it had not tax, no insurance and no MOT! So he could not even tell the truth when his little boy was killed.
What lives do those poor little kiddies have? A paedophile for a father, some strange new age traveller for a mother, being dragged around from pillar to post, what about their schooling?

how can you 2 adults and 5 children not notice that a child had fallen out of the van? How?

Also the van was sized so he and his wife carried on their trip to Germany by train? Two adults and five children? They lived a "desperate hand to mouth existence", so how on earth did they afford the train fairs? And was this before or after little David's funeral into an unmarked grave?

I agree, if he dies at least they will have her to talk to and she may not feel the need to protect the animal once he has gone! So if she knows something she might say, especially to a newspaper who would pay her mega bucks for her story now!

There are so many things that are not right here he was in a Spanish hospital yet checked himself out and went to Germany where he was admitted to hospital for treatment.
he was also said to be cold and anti-social not wanting people to go near his truck or in it, wonder why?

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/05/23/paedo-raymond-hewlett-admits-visiting-maddie-holiday-flats-115875-21383900/

Paedo Raymond Hewlett admits visiting Maddie holiday flats.

Paedo's shock confession to holiday couple: 'I know Maddie resort very well..I’ve parked near flat several times.'

The British paedophile linked to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has sensationally confessed to being outside her holiday apartment “many times”.
Convicted pervert Raymond Hewlett, 64, has admitted knowing the resort where the McCanns were holidaying “very well” and said he had parked a van close to their complex on several occasions.
And last night a man who shared a Morocco campsite with Hewlett and his family for three months described how the drifter was obsessed with the missing youngster.
Speaking exclusively to the Sunday Mirror, former Scots Guard Peter Verran, 46, revealed how Hewlett, his German wife Mariana, 33, and their six children arrived at the campsite where he was holidaying in Chefchaaouen in a battered Dodge truck. It was May 2007 – shortly after Madeleine’s disappearance.
“He seemed like an old hippy traveller who had dropped out,” said Peter, who runs an internet business selling antiques and collectibles from his home in Fowey, Cornwall.
“We got talking at the toilet block. He brought Madeleine up straight away. 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. 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 about the layout. He said there was no way that the child could be taken without the parents seeing. He said they were lying.”
Yesterday it emerged that Portuguese police did speak to Hewlett about Madeleine’s disappearance – but ruled him out as a suspect.
Peter also revealed that pothead Hewlett made wild and unfounded claims that the McCanns – both doctors, from Rothley, Leics – were involved in their daughter’s disappearance.
“One of Hewlett’s theories was that there had been an accident and Kate and Gerry had killed her and were trying to cover it up,” said Peter.
“He even made the crazy suggestion that her mum and dad had sold her to gipsies. He said it was common knowledge among locals that Praia Da Luz in general and the Ocean Club in particular was a magnet for Romanian gipsies who abduct and then traffic children.
"I asked him why he’d left and come to Morocco. He told me he’d had to leave Portugal in a hurry. He said he’d packed his family up in half an hour and just driven out of the area. That was just after Maddie was taken.”
Peter, who is partially disabled, met his Moroccan wife Nisrine, 25, when he was holidaying in Agadir.
They married in May 2007 and when they encountered Hewlett at the remote campsite, they were enjoying an extended honeymoon touring the country in a camper van.

“We’d been there a week or so when Hewlett and his family just rolled in in a big blue Dodge truck,” said Peter, who has two children from a previous marriage. “I didn’t see him for a few days. I just saw his wife and kids. She’d checked them in to the campsite and seemed to be handling all the paperwork. In Morocco, you have to have the right papers to stay anywhere. Looking back, it seems Hewlett was reluctant to be seen by anyone in authority.”

After a few days, Peter began bumping into Hewlett and they started to chat. “He told me he had been in Southern Ireland once but had to leave in a hurry,” said Peter. “He explained that he and his wife were travellers and they moved around a lot. He said he spent his days sitting around smoking dope while his six kids played.
“The kids were a bit weird. They were very withdrawn and couldn’t speak properly. They never went to school and spent all day playing in the mud.
“Hewlett told me he was ill and suffered with pains in his chest. One day he said, ‘I think I’ve got cancer’. I told him to go back to England to get checked out and to sort the kids out with a proper home. He said he didn’t want people poking their noses into his business.’’
Peter told how he and Nisrine would eat meals with Hewlett’s family – and Hewlett would often talk about Madeleine. “He went on and on about the McCanns and kept telling me all his theories about what he thought had happened,” said Peter. “Looking back, maybe it was a way of making sure we didn’t think he had anything to do with it.”
Peter, who spent six years in the Army before working with people with learning difficulties, recalled how in the three months they were all together he only saw Hewlett leave the camp once or twice. “Most of the time he stayed on the campsite,” he said. “He was never short of money though. He bought diesel, a motorbike and engine parts. I don’t know where he got his money from. He said he’d made cash from car boot sales.”
Then, one day in August 2007, Hewlett announced he and his family were leaving. “He said his wife’s visa had run out and his passport was out of date,” said Peter. “They packed up and left quickly.”
Peter and Nisrine returned to the UK in November 2007 and had occasional texts or phone calls from Hewlett. “He said he was back in Tavira, near Praia Da Luz, doing car boot sales,” Peter said.
“In June last year, he rang to say he had throat cancer. The next I heard they were in Spain. He called to ask for money and I sent him £50. I couldn’t bear the thought of his kids starving. I even offered to pay for him to come back to the UK. I didn’t get a reply and we lost touch.
“Then suddenly this week he was in the newspapers linked to Maddie’s disappearance. I could hardly believe my eyes. It was such a massive shock. It makes my blood run cold. We haven’t been able to sleep much since the news broke. I keep feeling guilty that I should have noticed something and gone to the police. But I just thought he was an odd drifter. I pray he hasn’t had anything to do with it, but now I just don’t know.”
Detectives working for the McCanns are now investigating former trawlerman Hewlett. And officers from Leicestershire Police – the McCanns home force and in charge of liaising with Portuguese authorities – have said they want to speak to two British holidaymakers who tracked down Hewlett.
Cindy and Alan Thompson raised the alarm after they realised he and his family had been staying at a camping site an hour from Praia da Luz when Madeleine vanished. The couple helped to trace him to the hospital in Germany where he is being treated for throat cancer.
Last night Leicestershire Police were made aware of the Sunday Mirror’s new revelations. Hewlett is also wanted for questioning by West Yorkshire Police over a child sex attack in 1975 and by Greater Manchester Police investigating the 1975 abuse of an eight-year-old girl.
In 1972, he abducted and sexually assaulted a neighbour’s six-year-old daughter. He was sentenced to 18 months and released after a year. In 1978 he attempted to rape a nine-year-old girl and was jailed four years. In 1988 in Mold, Cheshire, he kidnapped and assaulted a 14-year-old girl and was jailed for six years.
He was described by one judge as “extremely dangerous” and once featured on a Crimestoppers list of Most Wanted Paedophiles.
simon.wright@sundaymirror.co.uk

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Thanks Alex

I for one have not doubted that Hewlett had nothing to do with Mariluz.

I too have wondered if he even has anything to do with Madeleine, and for the same reason as you, that it is all over the front pages of the papers.

However, he is a paedophile that abducts children, and he was in the area. He must be checked out thoroughly.

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Madeleine McCann investigators 'want paedophile Raymond Hewlett to undergo DNA test'
Investigators working for the parents of Madeleine McCann hope to question convicted paedophile Raymond Hewlett as early as today – and want him to undergo a DNA test.
12:37PM BST 25 May 2009

Private detectives hired by Gerry and Kate McCann arrived in the German city of Aachen on Sunday night to establish whether the 64-year-old was involved in their daughter's disappearance.

Mr Hewlett, who is being treated at a cancer hospital, is alleged to have been living around an hour's drive from the holiday flat in Praia da Luz where Madeleine was staying with her family when she vanished in May 2007.

The investigators have no legal authority to interview Mr Hewlett, but hope he will agree to co-operate in an effort to clear his name.

Some of the DNA samples taken from the McCann's apartment in Portugal have never been traced. German authorities who are already investigating the former Scots Guardsman over the death of his son in a car accident will decide this week whether to give him a DNA test, The Sun reported.

Detectives may also be able to use Mr Hewlett's mobile phone records to establish whether he was in Praia da Luz on the night Madeleine disappeared, according to the Daily Mirror.

Mr Hewlett, who previously lived in Blackpool and Telford, is also wanted for questioning by West Yorkshire Police in connection with an indecent assault in 1975.

The McCanns hope that officers from the force will facilitate a meeting between their investigators and Mr Hewlett after the official interview. Sources close to the family believe this could take place this week – perhaps as early as Monday,

Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for Gerry and Kate McCann, said: "Mr Hewlett has denied any involvement in Madeleine's abduction.

"Our investigators hope he will co-operate by giving them whatever information is needed so they can eliminate him from their investigation.

"It is clear that the man is ill and it is clear he has information that our investigators need."

Mr Hewlett is reportedly in intensive care recovering from throat cancer surgery. Security at the hospital where he is being treated has been increased since he was connected to the Madeleine inquiry.

He has been jailed several times for sexual offences against young girls, and it is believed that a number of police forces in Britain and Ireland have been trying to track him down.

Madeleine was nearly four when she went missing from her family's holiday apartment on May 3, 2007 while her parents dined with friends nearby. Despite a massive police investigation and huge publicity worldwide she has not been found.

The search for is now being headed by two retired policemen, Dave Edgar, a former RUC and Cheshire Police officer, and Arthur Cowley, previously of Merseyside Police, who run Alpha Investigations Group and have been hired by the Find Madeleine Fund to investigate missed leads.

http://tiny.cc/qkLxj

Madeleine McCann cops ask couple who raised alarm about paedophile Ray Hewlett if they have his mobile number.
By Ryan Parry and Stephen Moyes in Aachen, Germany 25/05/2009

The couple who raised the alarm about paedophile Ray Hewlett told yesterday how detectives who interviewed them asked: “Do you still have his mobile number.”

Alan and Cindy Thompson were questioned for three hours at the weekend by officers from Leicestershire Police’s Madeleine McCann task force.

Cindy, who handed over the foreign number, said yesterday: “The detective who interviewed me asked for Ray’s number. He didn’t say what they’ll do with it, I just hope it helps in some way.”

Officers could use the number to access phone company records dating back to May 3, 2007, the day Madeleine vanished from the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz.

The records will show which mobile phone masts Hewlett’s phone connected to on specific dates.

The information may help officers track Hewlett’s movements the night Madeleine went missing and over the following days.

Alan said the detective who spoke to him was keen for information about the dilapidated Dodge truck Hewlett was driving at the time Madeleine vanished and which he later took to Morocco.

Alan said: “The officer asked what sort of truck it was and where I thought it was now. I told him it was a very distinctive blue Dodge truck with English plates, maybe beginning with a D or a G.

“I also told them that friends in Portugal told me that the truck is in Alvor, a town near Albufeira in the Algarve.”

The detectives who interviewed Alan and Cindy in East London’s Limehouse police station told them all the information would be passed on to Portuguese police.

Hewlett, who has been jailed three times for attacks on young girls, is currently in hospital in Aachen, Germany, recovering from throat cancer surgery.

Investigators working for Kate and Gerry McCann arrived in the city last night in the hope of interviewing Hewlett, possibly even today. Detectives from West Yorkshire are currently waiting for permission from the German authorities to question Hewlett in connection with an unsolved indecent assault from 1975.

Hewlett, 64, will have to see the British officers if permission is granted. But he will have the right to refuse to speak to the McCanns’ team of retired policemen.

German police also plan to take a DNA swab from Hewlett to check it against traces obtained during the Madeleine investigation conducted by Portuguese police.

A couple who met Hewlett when he and his family were staying at a campsite in Morocco yesterday said he had told them he knew the Ocean Club resort where the McCanns stayed extremely well.

Peter and Nisrine Verran, who chatted to Hewlett shortly after Madeleine’s disappearance, said the ex-fair-ground worker seemed obsessed with the case.

He told them he had parked a van near the McCanns’ apartment complex on several occasions.

Peter, 46, said: “He brought Madeleine up straight away.

He said his three-year-old daughter looked like her.

“He was worried 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 often parked his van close to the apartment.”

The Mirror revealed last week that the Thompsons were on an extended holiday in Portugal in 2006 when they befriended Hewlett, his German wife Mariana and their six children.

It was only after they returned to the UK they learned about Hewlett’s sinister past.

They raised the alarm when they realised he and his family had been staying at a camping site an hour from Praia da Luz when Madeleine vanished. Leicestershire Police, the McCanns home force, said yesterday: “The disappearance of Madeleine McCann remains a Portuguese investigation.”

http://tiny.cc/u1gA9

Paedophile refuses to speak to McCann investigators
Monday, 25 May 2009

A British paedophile being treated for cancer in Germany has apparently refused to speak to private investigators working for Kate and Gerry McCann.

The detectives wanted to speak to Raymond Hewlett as part of their ongoing investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in the Algarve two years ago.

However, the 64-year-old reportedly refused their request for an interview.

Hewlett was apparently staying around 50 miles from the McCanns when Madeleine disappeared in May 2007.

A spokesman for the McCanns says this is just one line of inquiry being examined by the private investigators.

http://tiny.cc/H7cBq

Why refuse if he has nothing to hide?

More than that, why would the British police say this is a Portuguese investigation. Madeleine is a British citizen and there is nothing to say she is still in Portugal, therefore they should be within their rights to question Hewlett concerning Madeleine's disappearance, as well as the other cases they are investigating.

This just doesnt ring true that the police will not ask questions of a suspect concerning a British citizen because it is not their case. Utter rubbish.

This is worth making a complaint over, not sure where maybe the Home office, but definitely to local MP.

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I dont think the story is being made up to portray Hewlett as the perfect suspect, Hewletts own history speaks for itself.

However, in fairness, The McCanns spokesman has stressed and stressed that this is just one line of inquiry out of many and any one of their other potential leads could grap the headlines in the same way. The investigators hadn't even interviewed the Thompsons when the story broke, so I dont think it is the McCanns building this up.

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Alex

The McCanns didnt give this story to the papers, it seems to have come from the Thompsons.

The media push the story to sell papers, that is the only reason. That is how they managed to get themselves sued for libel in the first place. The press has already proved they care nothing for Madeleine's safety. You only have to look at their previous actions. How can promoting stories that she is dead and that her parents were involved possibly have been in Madeleine's best interest.

Once the story got out, there is no going back, so the McCanns detectives and the British police (and other police) have to work with it as best they can.

By the way, I still disagree about the British police. They have every right to interfere in the search for Madeleine. We had a young girl called Brit Lapthorne who was murdered in Croatia. The Croation police said that they couldnt prove that she was murdered, as her body was found in the ocean badly decomposed. Well, the Australian authorities went to work on it, and it was found that her body was weighted down, and that of course indicates she was murdered. They have also been over to Croatia to 'assist' their police, who are just not as experienced with this type of crime.

So in other words, the Australian Federal police took this case and ran with it because it was an Australian citizen that was murdered, and the Croatian police had closed the case, or at least shelved it due to no evidence from the autopsy.

The Madeleine case is no different. Portugal has shelved the case, and the British police are perfectly within their rights to investigate it, and if they are already interviewing Hewlett, then it is their duty to also question him about Madeleine, and to request evidence from Portugal, eg phone records. Anything else is quite frankly not good enough.