McCanns' Friend Says She Saw Madeleine Being Abducted

One of the closest friends of Kate and Gerry McCann broke her silence yesterday to insist she saw Madeleine being carried away by an abductor.

Jane Tanner spoke in detail for the first time about what she believes is the last definite sighting of the missing girl.

Her evidence is one of the few clues Portuguese detectives have as to what happened to Madeleine at the Algarve holiday complex more than six months ago.

Describing the night of Madeleine's disappearance, Tanner told how another friend, Rachael Oldfield, broke the news: "I went out to the front door of our apartment. Rachael came and said: 'Oh, Madeleine's gone'. That was the first I heard about it. Then I saw Kate and Fiona [Payne, another of the party] shouting: 'Madeleine!' And then Kate said to me: 'Jane, Madeleine's gone, Madeleine's gone'. That was the first I'd heard."

Tanner said this exchange happened at around 10pm on May 3. She said that 45 minutes before, she had seen a man walking away from the holiday complex in Praia da Luz carrying a child. She thought nothing of it then, but is now convinced the child was Madeleine.

In an interview with the BBC she said: "I know what I saw and I think it is important that people know what I saw, because I believe Madeleine was abducted."

Tanner said she had told police in Portugal all she knew and denied reports she has refused to cooperate with them.

Asked why she has not spoken out before, she said: "I have not spoken because the Portuguese police told us not to talk about these things at all. From day one we have done everything we could to help them with the investigation. Maybe I am talking now because I have been called a liar and a fantasist."

Tanner and her partner, Russell O'Brien, who live in Exeter, are two members of the so-called tapas nine. The party were eating together at a restaurant at the resort and taking it in turns to check on the children as they slept.

The group have reportedly been accused of agreeing a pact of silence by the Portuguese police.

Last month, the McCanns released a picture of the man created by an FBI-trained forensic artist using details provided by Tanner. The picture, which depicts a man with dark, collar-length hair cradling a child in his arms, was published on newspaper front pages worldwide.

She had described the man she saw as aged about 35 to 40, 1.7 meters (5ft 6in) tall and slim and the child he was carrying as wearing the same pajamas as Madeleine.

One family friend yesterday said Tanner had been "in pieces", blaming herself for not making the connection with the man and child she saw.