Madeleine McCann: British witness who may have seen toddler’s kidnapper is a friend of the Queen
A tourist who may have seen the person responsible for the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has close links to the royal family.
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A British tourist who may have spotted Madeleine McCann’s kidnapper and helped draw a sketch of him is a friend of the Queen.
According to The Sun, key witness Carole Tranmer has been back in the public spotlight after a man resembling her e-fit image was reported to be the new suspect police are hunting.
Ms Tranmer, who used to work at Windsor Castle, saw a prowler outside Maddie’s family’s apartment just hours before she disappeared 12 years ago in May 2007.
He resembles German serial killer Martin Ney, 48, who has been jailed for life for three child murders and 40 sex attacks.
There has been growing speculation that Ney was Portuguese police’s new “person of interest” in the hunt for Maddie, but other reports suggest he is not the focus of their investigation.
Ms Tranmer, 71, has reportedly been interviewed three times in the past by Portuguese and British officers about “the man acting suspiciously” at the Ocean Club in Portugal’s Praia da Luz.
She had been so concerned by his behaviour in trying to sneak through a gate she had contacted police.
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‘HE LOOKED VERY STRANGE’
Ms Tranmer’s sighting is one of a dozen unresolved sightings of strangers in the popular resort.
She was unavailable for comment at her home near London, reports The Sun.
To help assess her reliability as a witness, police previously asked Ms Tranmer about her relationship with the royal family.
She revealed she worked for the Royal Collection of art and that she knew the Queen personally and frequently encountered the royal family in private visits.
In her police statement Ms Tranmer, who was staying in the same block as Maddie’s family, said: “Looking down below the McCann flat I saw someone come out of the ground floor apartment closing the gate very carefully and quietly.
“He looked very strange to me. He looked to one side and the other, shut the gate and walked very quickly below.”
McCann spokesman Clarence Mitchell said there was a “degree of credibility” to claims Ney could be linked.
Three-year-old Maddie vanished from her holiday bedroom while her parents were dining in a nearby tapas restaurant with friends.
Former doctor Kate McCann, 51, and heart doctor Gerry McCann, 50, cling onto a glimmer of hope their daughter could still be alive.
She would now be aged nearly 16.
This story was originally published in The Sun and is reprinted with permission.
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