David Pilditch in Silves
4 February 2008
The Daily Express
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| Marcos Aragão Correia |
Marcos Correia / Barragem do Arade Reservoir search
- Marcos Correia
- Age 32
- funding reservoir search - £1,000/day
- Portuguese human rights lawyer - Madeira-based
- 3 days after Madeleine disappeared criminal contacts told him Madeleine abducted, raped and murdered before killer disposed of corpse.
- twice alerted Portuguese police but they dismissed information as "not credible"
- visited lake with Metodo 3
- Metodo 3 believe possible link with lorry driver sighting in Silves
- Barragem do Arade Reservoir search
- 30 miles from Praia da Luz
- five-mile perimeter
- team of four - British and Portuguese divers
- Alan Wilson - operation coordinator
- frogmen searched 60ft depths / zero visibility
- focused on water pumping tower
- recovered length of plastic cord and large square-shaped block
- Clarence Mitchell
"We are grateful to anyone who has important information in the search for Madeleine."
Divers from Britain were yesterday searching a remote reservoir in Portugal for the body of Madeleine McCann. A team of frogmen were trawling the massive Barragem do Arade lake 30 miles from Praia da Luz where the little girl went missing last May. They have recovered a length of plastic cord which has been handed to Portuguese police and are examining a large square-shaped block found at the bottom of the reservoir. Portuguese human rights lawyer Marcos Correia, 32, who is funding the search, said: "It is logic that if you throw a body in the water you would tie it to something to weigh it down. "It could have been a madman or a gang, I don't know." Correia claims that he was tipped-off by underworld sources that Madeleine's body was dumped there within 48 hours of her disappearance. He is spending £1,000 a day on the operation after Portuguese detectives failed to act on information he passed on to them last May. Last night Kate and Gerry McCann were said to be boosted by the new efforts as the hunt for their daughter entered its 10th month. A team of four British and Portuguese divers were carrying out a painstaking search of the reservoir near the historic Algarve town of Silves. Correia insists that he was given a gruesome account of Madeleine's fate by criminal contacts three days after she disappeared. He says he was told Madeleine had been abducted, raped and murdered before the killer disposed of her corpse. Correia insists he twice alerted Portuguese police but they dismissed his information as "not credible". The Madeira-based lawyer cleared his workload in a bid to solve the mystery which has gripped the world. He visited the lake, which has a five-mile perimeter, with investigators from the McCanns' private detective agency Metodo 3. The agents believe there could be a link with a suspicious sighting in Silves two days after Madeleine disappeared. A Portuguese lorry driver said he saw a girl resembling Madeleine being passed between a man and a woman. The diving team concentrated at the weekend on an area of the reservoir close to a water pumping tower connected to land by a walkway. A dirt track runs down to the spot where an abductor could have thrown a body into the water without being detected. The frogmen are searching depths of 60ft in zero visibility. Operation co-ordinator, Alan Wilson, said: "They are searching entirely by touch." Correia, standing on the shore of the reservoir, said: "This would have been the best place to dump the body." The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "We are grateful to anyone who has important information in the search for Madeleine."
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