Robert Murat re-interviewed in search for Madeleine McCann

Detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann are re-interviewing Robert Murat, the British expatriate who was first questioned by police when the three-year-old went missing in 2007.

Mr Murat arrived at Faro police station in the Algarve in Portugal shortly after 9am yesterday to be interviewed by British and Portuguese police.

He arrived accompanied by his wife, Michaela Walczuch, who is also due to be questioned, his lawyer and a detective.

Mr Murat is being treated as a witness detectives want to speak to after Scotland Yard reopened its investigation into the case. He is among 10 men and women who are being interviewed this week under Operation Grange, the renewed investigation launched in 2011 following a request by David Cameron. Sources close to the investigation said on Tuesday night that an 11th witness, who is resident in the Algarve, would be interviewed in Britain at a later date.

Mr Murat, an IT consultant, was the first person to be declared a suspect during the high-profile police search for Madeleine seven years ago. He was never arrested and he later won several hundreds of thousands of pounds in libel damages from British newspapers.

In interviews on Tuesday, investigators questioned three men, including a former worker at the Ocean Club hotel, where Madeleine was staying with her parents, Kate and Gerry, when she disappeared.

– (Guardian service)