Portugal’s Attorney General has this week voiced its opinion that recent reports about British paedophile Raymond Hewlett, who was embroiled in the Madeleine McCann after it emerged the former convict had been staying in the Algarve at the time of her disappearance, were not strong enough to re-open the case.
Following reports in the UK’s press that branded 64-year-old Hewlett as ‘suspicious’ for being in the Algarve region at the time of Madeleine McCann’s disappearance, Portugal’s Attorney General has said none of the reports offered solid facts that justified re-launching the investigation.
At the time of then three-year-old Madeleine McCann’s disappearance from an apartment in the Praia da Luz ‘Ocean Club’ resort, Hewlett was staying in Tavira, Eastern Algarve, around an hour’s drive from where the McCann family were lodged.
In a statement the Attorney General’s Office made clear “speculation, opinions or commentary is not enough to re-open the investigation”.
It continued “when there are concrete facts, that the magistrates in charge of the case consider relevant or credible, the case will be reopened”.
The Attorney General did, however, confirm it was “paying full attention to all signs that show up”.
Reports in British newspaper the Daily Mail told of how ex-solider Hewlett had a past of known attacks carried out on young girls and which dated back to 1972. That year he was sent to prison for abusing a 12-year-old girl.
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