NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / World

'She was trying to hide from me': Witness tells of suspicious woman outside McCann's apartment

By James Dunn
Daily Mail·
3 May, 2017 07:49 PM7 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Holidaymakers describing the night Madeleine McCann disappeared today revealed how they saw her distraught mother screaming "the f***ing b******s have taken her".

Speaking for the first time since she went missing ten years ago, Paul and Susan Moyes revealed what they saw from the apartment two floors above the McCanns'.

Mr Moyes, 68, said: "The McCanns were in bits, he was crying on the shoulder of a friend. She was screaming 'the f***ing b******s have taken her'."

Speaking to The Sun, he added: 'There was no doubt about the emotion that night.'

The couple, from Middlwich, Cheshire, claim they saw the McCann parents and their friends - known as the Tapas Nine - from their balcony before going to bed.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

They were then reportedly woken by a friend of the McCanns banging on their door around an hour and a half later, at around 11.30pm on May 3 2007.

Another resident has also revealed key information on the night three-year-old Madeleine disappeared from her bed in the resort in Praia da Luz in the Algarve.

Jenny Murat, who lives 100 yards from the Ocean Club complex where the McCanns were staying, saw a car driving towards their apartment.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Speaking about the sighting for the first time, Mrs Murat told BBC Breakfast it was driving the wrong way down a one-way street.

"It was one of the small cars, like the rental cars - the normal, everyday sort of rental cars," she said.

"I saw the driver, I was beside the driver. Both of us looked at each other. I think he had a very British look about him."

Mrs Murat also described seeing a woman standing outside the family's apartment on the night Madeleine went missing.

Discover more

World

Sticker on McCann book causes outrage

21 May 08:02 PM
World

Has the hunt for Madeleine ground to a halt?

15 Jul 08:13 PM
What Madeleine McCann may look like now. Photo / Supplied
What Madeleine McCann may look like now. Photo / Supplied

"I noticed her there and she kind of looked as if she was trying to hide from me. I do remember she was wearing a plum-coloured top," she said.

Mrs Murat's son Robert, a translator, was the first person to be made an arguido - a named suspect - in the case.

He told the BBC he still cannot face reading about the case on the internet, despite being cleared of any involvement.

"The internet is full of theories - I want to know the truth, not theories," he said.

"I just want to know why that was the case. It didn't only lead to me being destroyed, it led to my whole family being destroyed, affected by those allegations. It was completely untrue."

A special church service will be held at the Church of Nossa Senhora da Luz for all missing people, including Madeleine, at 9pm on Wednesday.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

A candle bearing Madeleine's name and a card with her picture on have been placed outside the church in Luz where the service will later take place.

The card, reading "Maddie with love" features a photograph of the little girl surrounded by diamante stickers, with a butterfly, yellow bow and flower.

Yellow ribbons, to signify hope, were placed around the village at the time of Madeleine's disappearance.

Mr Sutton made no suggestion that Kate and Gerry were guilty, but criticised the probe for being "narrowly focused". Photo / Getty
Mr Sutton made no suggestion that Kate and Gerry were guilty, but criticised the probe for being "narrowly focused". Photo / Getty

The news comes after new information about the investigation was revealed this week by a Home Office report into the case.

A detective tipped to head up the Madeleine McCann probe was warned he would be ordered to prove she was abducted and ignore other leads.

Colin Sutton said a high-ranking friend in the Met called him and warned him not to lead the case when Scotland Yard announced it would get involved in 2010.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The source warned that he would be tasked with proving her parents Kate and Gerry were innocent and ignoring any alternatives to the abduction theory, he claims.

Speaking to Martin Brunt on Sky News, he said: "I did receive a call from a very senior met police officer who knew me and said it wouldn't be a good idea for me to head investigation on the basis that I wouldn't be happy conducting an investigation being told where I could go and where I couldn't go, the things I could investigate and the things I couldn't.

Asked to clarify what he meant, he added: "The Scotland Yard investigation was going to be very narrowly focused and that focus would be away from any suspicion of wrongdoing on the part of the McCanns or the tapas friends."

The Tapas Nine refers to the McCann parents and the seven friends they were out to dinner with when Madeleine disappeared in 2007.

They were interviewed by Portuguese Police, who have always worked on the basis that Madeleine was abducted from her room, but Mr Sutton said other possibilities should be entertained.

Speaking on Searching for Maddie, which looks at the case ten years on from her disappearance, he criticises the narrow focus of both Portuguese and British police.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He added: "If you are conducting a re-investigation you start at the very beginning. Look at all the accounts all the evidence all the initial statements and go through them and make sure they stack up and they compare."

Madeleine McCann's parents fell out with both the Portuguese and British police investigating her disappearance and their "turbulent relationship" led to a breakdown in trust. Photo / Getty
Madeleine McCann's parents fell out with both the Portuguese and British police investigating her disappearance and their "turbulent relationship" led to a breakdown in trust. Photo / Getty

The documentary revealed details from a Home Office report on the case, ordered by then Labour minister Alan Johnson before the 2010 election, seen by Sky News' Martin Brunt.

The report shows that Gerry and Kate McCann's relationship with Portuguese police after they closed the investigation into her disappearance.

The Met took the unusual step of getting involved in the case in 2010 after the report was compiled, and recommends police collaborate with private investigators hired by the McCanns because of the "unique nature of the case".

However, it also reveals that much of the information gathered by investigators had not been shared with police investigating the case so far.

Highlighting the "turbulent relationship" between the parents and detectives, it describes how the McCann's felt badly treated by the Portuguese authorities.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

They were called in to speak to officers then asked to wait for hours, only for a detective never to appear, in treatment they described as "inhumane".

The relationship broke down entirely when Portuguese police closed the investgation in to Madeleine's disappearance in in Praia de Luz.

When the Met Police came in, they also fell out with local police. The Met would later fall out with the McCanns too, the report revealed.

Mr Johnson wanted to find out if the Met should intervene further in the case so the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre investigated.

It was commissioned in late 2009, completed by March 2010 and published in May 2010, MailOnline understands.

In May 2011 the Home Office launched the Scotland Yard review of the case. The Met's investigation has cost £11million so far.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The report said: "It is clear that from the beginning the McCanns felt there was a lack of clarity and communication on the part of the Portuguese police.

"Despite the involvement of British consular staff, they were, by their own accounts, left for long periods without any updates or communication with the investigators.

"They state they were taken to the police station on more than one occasion and then left for hours waiting to speak to someone who never materialised.

"They describe this situation as inhumane, with no real consideration for their emotional and physical wellbeing."

The report also reveals tensions between the Portuguese and British police, with the Met accused of acting "like a colonial power".

The report says: "Clearly, the McCanns have had a turbulent relationship with both Portuguese and UK law enforcement. They now openly acknowledge that there is a distinct lack of trust between all parties."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The police in Britain and Portugal say they are working together to find Madeleine, who vanished on May 3 2007.

The documentary was aired just hours after it emerged the former Portuguese detective Goncalo Amaral claimed Madeleine's body was cremated in a TV interview.

The detective, one of the leading investigators early in the case, made the wild statement hours after her parents vowed to take him back to court over other claims.

Amaral made his latest statement on a TV documentary to be aired on the 10th anniversary of her disappearance from the Praia da Luz resort in Portugal.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from World

Premium
World

'Speculative shares': Dinosaur fossil auction raises market concerns

17 Jun 08:00 PM
Premium
OpinionUpdated

Opinion: Trump's rise and return centred on power and retribution

17 Jun 07:00 PM
Premium
WorldUpdated

New video reveals how predators interact with bats, increasing virus risk

17 Jun 07:00 PM

Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from World

Premium
'Speculative shares': Dinosaur fossil auction raises market concerns

'Speculative shares': Dinosaur fossil auction raises market concerns

17 Jun 08:00 PM

Palaeontologists worry such auctions distort the fossil market, raising prices.

Premium
Opinion: Trump's rise and return centred on power and retribution

Opinion: Trump's rise and return centred on power and retribution

17 Jun 07:00 PM
Premium
New video reveals how predators interact with bats, increasing virus risk

New video reveals how predators interact with bats, increasing virus risk

17 Jun 07:00 PM
G7 summit: Canada promises billions in aid to Ukraine as US shifts focus to Middle East

G7 summit: Canada promises billions in aid to Ukraine as US shifts focus to Middle East

17 Jun 06:50 PM
Help for those helping hardest-hit
sponsored

Help for those helping hardest-hit

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP