Morning:
8°c
Convicted paedophile 'nothing to hide' over missing Madeleine
Allan Hall26 May 2009
The convicted paedophile under investigation over the disappearance of Madeleine McCann today said he was innocent and had “nothing to hide”.
Raymond Hewlett spoke out for the first time as detectives hired by Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry have flown home to the UK after failing to secure an interview with the 64-year-old.
Emerging from the hospital in the German city of Aachen where he is being treated for throat cancer, Hewlett said: “I have nothing to hide - I am willing to talk with them.”
Hewlett, who was in a wheelchair and looked gravely ill, had an operation on his throat two weeks ago and was only moved from the intensive care ward of the University Clinic to a recovery ward yesterday.
Repeated attempts by the detectives to get past hospital bureaucracy to see Hewlett ended without success.
But today he said he had “nothing to do” with the disappearance of the little girl who vanished on 3 May 2007. He added: “I thought the Portugese police closed this case long ago.”
Wanted by West Yorkshire police over a 1975 assault on a child he said: “I have got nothing to do with that. I haven't been interrogated by any British police officer over that.
“I came to Germany because my wife and our six children live here. My wife is looking for a lawyer for me at the moment”, he added.
Hewlett's partner Marianna Schmuecker, mother to his children, said: “Just leave him alone. He is innocent in all of this.”
The detectives who tried to interview him said: “We will be back. We are confident he will want to talk to us eventually if only to clear his name.”
Hewlett came to be a suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine after a British couple revealed he was staying near the resort in May 2007 when she vanished.
Alan and Cindy Thompson met Hewlett and became suspicious of his past while he was living in a traveller's camp in Tavira, about 70 miles from Praia da Luz.
German prosecutors in Aachen said they are awaiting the arrival of British detectives over the 1975 case and have been asked to request a DNA sample from him.
If Hewlett refuses they will apply to a judge to force him to comply.
The retired British detectives searching for the girl welcomed Hewlett's offer to answer their questions.
The two ex-policemen employed by the little girl's family hope to interview him about her disappearance in the "near future", a source close to them said.
McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "The investigators are pleased to hear that Mr Hewlett has agreed to speak to them.
"An interview with him will be arranged and will take place in due course.
"We will not be going into public detail about where or when that interview will take place.
"Mr Hewlett has again denied any involvement in Madeleine's abduction, and if it helps to eliminate him from the private investigation then he has done the right thing by indicating that he will speak to the investigators currently helping Kate and Gerry McCann."
