Murat: I helped McCanns

I HAVE no idea if Robert Murat is guilty of the kidnapping of Madeleine McCann.

But I would never have been able to live with the guilt had I not told police of my grave concerns about his behaviour.

Which is why I reported him to British police, the British embassy here in the Algarve and to Portuguese police.

At first, little came of it and I began to wonder if I had maybe been wrong to speak up. Then, on Monday, when Murat was arrested, my heart raced and I was gripped by a terrible sense of foreboding. Within minutes, I was thrown into the epicentre of her disappearance.

TV crews from around the world were desperate to hear what it was I told police - and what police said to me. Since then, I have replayed over and over again in my head what the prime suspect in this case said to me, desperate for any more clues that could help police.

It was on the third day of Madeleine's disappearance that I interviewed Murat - and what he said left me deeply troubled.

Having seen him with police, I assumed that he was part of the investigation and asked him for any news. He gestured at me to sit with him on the pavement outside the McCann apartment.

He told me: "Officers have turned this whole area inside out looking for her. They have thoroughly searched a 3km radius around the apartment and found nothing. Soon they will abandon hope of finding her here and look further afield.

"It is likely that whoever kidnapped Madeleine is far away by now. They could have changed her appearance. The Portuguese police didn't take her disappearance seriously at first. They thought she had just wandered off. Because of this, it was 15 hours before they alerted the Spanish border police. It is only a couple of hours' drive to Spain. The poor little thing could be long gone by now."

I found it strange that he would criticise the police operation he seemed to be part of, so I asked what his role was. He said "I've been acting as a translator for the police. I live here and speak fluent Portuguese and English. I wanted to do anything I could to help."

I then asked him when he had first heard of Madeleine's disappearance and he said: "It was first thing Friday morning. I went to the McCanns apartment and immediately offered my services to police as a translator."

He added with pride: "I helped the McCanns communicate what had happened the night before to the police. They were frantic with worry and frustrated that they were not being understood.

"I have also been translating witness statements for the last few days from Mark Warner workers and holidaymakers."

Much of that, we now suspect, was not true. But at the time, he made it sound like the police knew him very well and he was trusted enough to assist them.

Since Murat's arrest, the McCanns have said they have no memory of even meeting him. One family member said: "He is talking lies and rubbish." But it is what he said next that really set my alarm bells ringing.

I asked why he was so touched by her disappearance. "I have a daughter of the same age," he replied. "In fact, she's the spitting image of Madeleine. I felt sick to the stomach when I heard. I rushed here as soon as I could to offer my help."

WHEN I pushed him further on his background, he suddenly became uncomfortable.

He said: "I'm going through a divorce at the moment so I don't see my daughter much."

There was an evasiveness and unease about Murat that left me feeling extremely uncomfortable.

Murat was reluctant to tell me what he did for a living when I asked. After pausing for several seconds, he said: "I'm in real estate. I've just bought a couple of properties in the Algarve which I'm doing up." Why all the mystery? At this point I still knew him only as Robert, so I asked him his surname. Again he stonewalled. "It's not important," he blustered. "I'm no one really. I'd rather not say."

One minute he was desperate to talk up his role in the investigation, the next he was acting coy.

I asked him for his phone number, hoping he might be a useful source of information.

"No." he replied. "I'm not giving it out to people. I don't want to be quoted. I'm just trying to help. I'll be here quite a lot for the next few days if you need me."

More mystery, more contradictions, more mixed messages.

While we had been speaking, Sunday Mirror photographer Alban Donohoe had taken our picture.

MINUTES after we said goodbye, Murat came back to our car, agitated. He was desperate for Alban to erase the photos.

"I saw you take my picture," he blurted. "I really need you to erase it. I'm not important in the investigation."

He was polite as always, but I sensed panic in his voice and it made me uneasy. Why would a man so apparently keen to attract attention suddenly be so concerned about a couple of pictures?

Like so much else about him, it just didn't add up. Later, as we drove past I deliberately glanced at him and waved goodbye.

He was holding court as usual at the centre of a dozen film crews. He stood, hands on hips, just yards from the police tape which cordoned off the crime scene. But as he caught my eye, he appeared to freeze for just a moment and his expression changed to one of a man exposed.

My encounter with him played on my mind that night. I rang my office in London and we agreed I should pass on my concerns.

I called Leicestershire Police and they took a statement and advised me to speak to the Portuguese authorities. I called the British Embassy in the Algarve and then approached an officer for GNR - the local police force - who was guarding the McCann's apartment.

I told him I had suspicions about a man called Robert who said he was translating for police. He knew instantly who I meant and assured me he would be checked out. I told him Robert had claimed he was translating witness statements and he replied: "That is very unlikely to be true."

My decision to report Murat had nothing to do with being a journalist. It was based on gut instinct and a natural sense of duty that I should share my suspicions. Given the unimaginable horrors which Madeleine's parents were enduring, it seemed the very least I should do.

Murat insists he is innocent, a scapegoat for the failure of police to find Madeleine. He also claims he is a victim of a smear campaign orchestrated by me.

Nothing could be further from the truth, or more absurd. I have no grudge against Murat - just a desire to see Madeleine found.

All I did was pass on information I thought the authorities should be privy to. The rest is in the police's hands.