Madeleine Case: Who Is Robert Murat?
Updated: 08:01, Tuesday May 15, 2007
Robert Murat is a well-known figure among journalists in Portugal.
He worked as a translator for the local police and was on good terms with them
He told reporters he had been in the McCann's apartment in the aftermath of the abduction, translating for the police.
Mr Murat, who is believed to have a four-year-old daughter in Norfolk, also worked as a fixer for Sky News for several days.
But among journalists he was regarded with suspicion.
A joke began spreading among the press pack that he was the "prime suspect".
And the joke spread to Mr Murat as well, with him introducing himself as the chief suspect, Sky's Ian Woods said in Portugal.
Woods took him aside and pressed him as to why he was so involved in the case.
"He told me he had an estranged wife and a daughter and he was upset because Madeleine reminded him of his daughter," Woods said.
"People began to ask who he was. After a few days people were getting a bit suspicious as to who he was and why he was around so much.
"I asked him to do an interview but he refused, which was unusual because everyone was happy to do an interview."
Woods asked twice if Mr Murat could do an interview for Sky News.
Woods said Mr Murat left the area a few days ago because he had become concerned about the attention he was receiving.
"He became very spooked by the news photographers who were taking pictures of him," Woods said.
"He became uncomfortable with the amount of attention he was getting.
"He told me he was going to withdraw from the scene because he felt he was becoming a distraction."
Mr Murat lives with his mother Jennifer, who is a long-time Algarve resident.
She had set up a stall on the sea front and asked people who did not want to give information to police to come to her
