Portugal:Portuguese detectives continued their investigation into the disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann yesterday, as the campaign to highlight her presumed abduction received British government backing.
The four-year-old from Leicestershire went missing two weeks ago, apparently snatched from her bedroom in the sleepy Algarve resort of Praia da Luz, just metres from where her parents were eating dinner.
Attention has now switched to the home of Robert Murat, a British expatriate identified as the only formal suspect in the investigation. Earlier this week, Mr Murat (33), a former property developer whose four-year-old daughter lives with his ex-wife in Britain, was questioned for 12 hours.
Police later said they did not have the evidence to formally arrest or charge anybody.
Police also interviewed a Russian man yesterday, local media reported.
They cordoned off an apartment block in Praia da Luz in the afternoon. A Reuters cameraman later saw them leave the block with a man and two computers.
A police spokesman declined to comment, saying only that the investigation was continuing.
Portuguese media reported that police had taken away a number of items from Mr Murat's house, including computer material and video tapes for examination. A pool at the property was reportedly drained and police took samples from two vehicles parked in front of the house.
Des Traynor, owner of the local construction firm responsible for building the villa in 1994, contacted Portuguese police yesterday when he heard they were searching the house. He told reporters there was a large cavity under the living room because the house was built on a slope. The space is covered over with concrete and tiles and could be accessed by knocking a hole through the wall, he added.
A phalanx of TV cameras surrounded the front gate of the villa yesterday while a solitary police officer stood guard behind the police cordon. No one entered or left the house. Further up the street, the apartment where the McCann family had been holidaying remained sealed off.
In an unfilmed interview with a Sky News journalist after he was questioned on Tuesday night, Mr Murat protested his innocence, insisting that he had been made a "scapegoat".
"This has ruined my life and made my life very difficult for my family here and in Britain," he said. "The only way I will survive this is if they catch Madeleine's abductor."
Friends and family members repeated this assertion yesterday, saying he felt unable to defend himself publicly due to legal restrictions.
Meanwhile, relatives of the toddler travelled from Glasgow to Westminster where chancellor Gordon Brown met them and pledged his support.