'I DID see Madeleine being abducted,' insists Tapas Nine friend

Key witness Jane Tanner saw a dark-haired man carrying away a child wearing pink floral pyjamas about the time that the four-year-old vanished from her parents' holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal.

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But it was only an hour later, when she was told that Madeleine had gone, that Miss Tanner realised it could have been the abductor.

She has been "tormented" ever since that she did not immediately realise the significance of what she had seen.

Miss Tanner, a 38-year-old marketing executive, is the first of the "Tapas Nine" - the group of friends who formed a dinner party with the McCanns on the night of May 3 at a restaurant in the Algarve holiday complex - to speak publicly.

She made her decision, six months after Madeleine's disappearance, because of her growing frustration about smears against her and the other friends.

Last night Portuguese police warned she risked a two-year jail sentence by speaking out.

As a witness, she is bound by the same strict secrecy laws which forbid Madeleine's parents from talking about the events of May 3.

Legal sources said her decision was a "calculated risk", and that she was unlikely to face prosecution.

Miss Tanner, of Exeter, was in Portugal with her partner Russell O'Brien, 36, a doctor.

Yesterday she told the BBC: "I have not spoken before because the Portuguese police told us not to talk about the case at all.

"From day one we have done everything we can to help them with the investigation.

"I think maybe I'm talking now because I'm being called a liar and a fantasist and all this.

"I know what I saw. I think it's important that people know what I saw because I believe Madeleine was abducted."

The full interview will be shown on Panorama on BBC1 on Monday, on CBS in America tonight and on Portuguese television tomorrow.

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The programme will also feature some previously unseen footage of the McCanns talking about Madeleine in the early stages of the hunt for her.

They were filmed by indepedent producer John Corner, a friend of the McCanns and godfather to their two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie.

Describing what she witnessed on the fateful evening of May 3, Miss Tanner said: "Never in a million years did I think it could have been Madeleine. But I didn't know then.

"I just saw a person walk along the top of the road with what could have been a child in his arms."

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Around 45 minutes later, Miss Tanner, who had left the dinner party to tend to her own child, heard a commotion as the McCanns and their other friends began the frantic search for Madeleine.

"I went out to the front door of our apartment. I saw Rachel [Oldfield - another of the 'Tapas Nine'] come and say, Madeleine's gone,' she said.

"That was the first I heard about it. Then I saw Kate and Fiona [Payne - another of the nine] running around shouting, Madeleine.

"Kate said to me, Jane - Madeleine's gone, Madeleine's gone."

Miss Tanner said she has felt "absolute horror" ever since and has lived with the "daily torment" of not immediately realising the significance of what she had seen.

In the early hours of the morning after the sighting, Miss Tanner was interviewed by local Portuguese police while Mr McCann was present and told them of the man she had seen.

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She gave the police a detailed description of the man but no E-fit was ever issued of him.

Only a vague description was put out three weeks after Madeleine went missing.

She later gave details to a forensic artist commissioned by Mr and Mrs McCann, who produced an artist's impression of the man.

Miss Tanner did not get a good look at the man's face as he was turned away from her but was able to describe his maroon shirt, camel coloured trousers and brown shoes.

Miss Tanner's description of the child's pyjamas matched Madeleine's, but she did not see her face.

Last week it was claimed in a Portuguese newspaper that Miss Tanner and Dr O'Brien wanted to change their police statements in a move which could 'dramatically change' the investigation.

Miss Tanner and Dr O'Brien categorically deny that they have ever wanted to change their statements and have dismissed the allegation as "absolute rubbish".

Last night a friend of the McCanns said: "Jane is a friend of Kate and Gerry and as far as they are concerned she has nothing to blame herself for.

"They bear her no ill-feeling whatsoever. In fact, they've tried to comfort her."