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NewsPolice tell Maddy's mother: Confess and you'll only get two years
By SAM GREENHILL and STEPHEN WRIGHT - More by this author »
Last updated at 22:59pm on 7th September 2007
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Police have suspected McCanns for over a month
Intimate conversations between Kate and Gerry have been listened to
Portugese police have been deliberately leaking details to the press in hopes McCanns will crack
Kate swore at detectives when asked, 'Did you kill your daughter?'
Kate McCann was accused by police yesterday of killing her daughter Madeleine and put under intense pressure to confess.
In a day of extraordinary developments, detectives alleged that Mrs McCann accidentally gave Madeleine a fatal overdose of sedative and then engaged with her husband Gerry in a monumental cover-up of her death.
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Shattered: Kate McCann last night after 15 hours of questioning
It emerged last night that Mrs McCann had been offered a plea bargain deal - to confess in exchange for a "light" sentence.
In an angry confrontation which lasted more than four hours at police headquarters in Portimao, detectives finally demanded: "Tell us what you've done with her."
The 39-year-old GP was asked to explain traces of her daughter's blood allegedly found in the family's hired Renault Scenic car.
A friend revealed, Mrs McCann shook with rage and replied: "How dare you? How dare you use emotional blackmail to make me confess something I didn't do?"
Asked how her husband Gerry was taking this situation, the friend replied: "How do you think a red-blooded Scottish male would react when defending the honour of his wife?"
More questions: Kate McCann returns to Portimao police station yesterday morning
Police apparently believe Mrs McCann, rather than her husband, is their main suspect because of a "scent of death" allegedly detected on her clothes by sniffer dogs trained to find a corpse.
She was named yesterday as an "arguida" or official suspect.
Her husband, also 39, was separately questioned yesterday. He began his interview as a witness, but police could also make him an arguido if they need to ask him potentially incriminating questions.
The McCanns have been under round-the-clock surveillance by Portuguese police for more than a month, it emerged.
The covert operation was launched after suspicions grew that they could be linked to the disappearance of their daughter.
Intimate conversations between the pair have been secretly listened to and their movements tracked by investigators.
A British source added: "After a slow start, the police inquiry is a lot more focused and professional.
"There is a great deal of co-operation between the Portuguese and British police. There are likely to be further dramatic developments in the next few days.
"A lot of people will be surprised by what else is going to come out."
Dozens of British detectives have been drafted into the inquiry in recent weeks. Sources said 55 officers were now working on the case.
It is believed they are carrying out urgent inquiries on behalf of the Portuguese police into the background of the McCanns.
Investigators want to learn more about the state of their marriage, their relationship and whether either of them are prone to losing their temper.
It can also be revealed that Portuguese police have been deliberately leaking details of their inquiry to local media as part of an investigative strategy to put more pressure on the McCanns in recent weeks.
It has never been established when Madeleine was last seen in public and it may even be the case that she was alone with her family from earlier than 5pm.
Madeleine was photographed at the poolside that day at 2.29pm but there is no evidence to suggest she was seen in public after that.
If a fatal accident had occurred some time that day, the McCanns could have had more than three hours to hide or move the body and to plan their actions.
Mrs McCann's transforming from victim to suspect came in a whirlwind 24 hours of drama.
There were chaotic scenes outside police headquarters in the town of Portimao, 30 miles from Praia da Luz, with the narrow cobbled pavement hopelessly inadequate for more than 200 photographers, camera crews and reporters - plus dozens of curious members of the public - who gathered to watch her arrive for her second day of questioning.
Police eventually closed off the road to traffic.
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His turn: Gerry McCann at the police station yesterday afternoon
At 11.07am, Mrs McCann stepped out of a car driven by her spokesman Justine McGuinness, only ten hours after she had left the police station at 12.55am.
There were ugly scenes with booing and jeering from some Portuguese onlookers. But one British tourist shouted out: "We believe you Kate."
As with her first day of the interview on Wednesday, she had her lawyer Carlos Pinto de Abreu present.
The second day of Mrs McCann's interview, 128 days since Madeleine vanished from the family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, began with her being officially informed she was no longer a witness but a suspect.
Detectives then put 22 key questions to her.
She was directly asked: "Did you kill your daughter?" and was so taken aback she swore at detectives.
It is understood detectives had not asked her on Wednesday about the events of May 3, but they did tell her traces of Madeleine's blood had been found in the hire car.
Yesterday, they launched a more aggressive line of questioning, accusing her of killing her daughter and then concocting an incredible smokescreen by pretending she was abducted.
They suggested she had moved her daughter's body in the boot of the family's hire car, and said police dogs had detected the smell of a corpse on her T-shirt and jeans and on Madeleine's favourite toy Cuddle Cat.