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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
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| Police to question McCann friends | Police to question McCann friends |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| Friends of missing Madeleine McCann's parents Kate and Gerry are to be reinterviewed by police in the UK next week, the BBC has learned. | Friends of missing Madeleine McCann's parents Kate and Gerry are to be reinterviewed by police in the UK next week, the BBC has learned. |
| The group of seven will be questioned by officers from Leicestershire Police, with Portuguese detectives present. | The group of seven will be questioned by officers from Leicestershire Police, with Portuguese detectives present. |
| Four-year-old Madeleine disappeared from her family's holiday apartment in the Algarve last May. | Four-year-old Madeleine disappeared from her family's holiday apartment in the Algarve last May. |
| Her parents, who deny any wrongdoing, remain arguidos or formal suspects. They will not face questioning. | Her parents, who deny any wrongdoing, remain arguidos or formal suspects. They will not face questioning. |
| Small team | |
| Madeleine disappeared days before her fourth birthday, during a family holiday in the resort of Praia da Luz, in the Algarve, on 3 May last year. | |
| The seven friends dined with Kate and Gerry McCann on the night of Madeleine's disappearance. | |
| One of the group, Jane Tanner, has already told the police she saw a man that evening carrying a child, close to the family's apartment. | |
| The BBC's Steve Kingston in Madrid said he understood that a small team of Portuguese detectives will arrive in Britain next Monday. | |
| He added: "The Portuguese detectives will not conduct the interviews - but instead watch as officers from Leicestershire Police put a list of questions agreed in advance through the Home Office." | |
| The questioning of the McCanns' friends will begin on Tuesday and should be completed by the end of the week. | |
| Police interviews are also planned with relatives and advisers who were with the McCanns during the early days of the investigation. | |
| Separately, lawyers for the couple have requested that two dozen other witnesses be interviewed, including staff from the Ocean Club complex and several British holidaymakers. |