Madeleine McCann police 'to question ex-suspect Robert Murat'

Murat was named as a suspect in 2007 but cleared of any involvement

Robert Murat, who was falsely implicated in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann (AP)

Police investigating the disappearance of missing Madeleine McCann will question former suspect Robert Murat, it has been reported.

British police are due to travel to Portugal to question eleven people of interest in the investigation.

Four are being interviewed as witnesses and seven as suspects, according to the BBC.

Two of the 11 are believed to be Mr Murat and his wife, a source close to the investigation has been quoted as saying. Mr Murat, an IT consultant in the Algarve, was named as a suspect in the vase in 2007 and was later cleared of any involvement by police in Portugal.

He was later awarded substantial damages from various media organisations and has always denied being involved in her disappearance.

Speaking to The Guardian, Mr Murat said he has not yet been contacted by police but will cooperate with them.

“My conscience is clear and I have no problem speaking to police again,” he said.

Madeleine went missing in May 2007, after she disappeared from her bed at the Ocean Club complex in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz. She was three-years-old when she vanished.

Kate and Gerry McCann make an appeal at a press conference in the holiday resort of Praia da Luz, Portugal 7 May 2007

The case into her disappearance was re-opened in Portugal earlier this year and British detectives from Scotland Yard’s Operation Grange police travelled to the Algarve region in May to supervise a search of scrublands, though nothing was found.

A spokesperson for Scotland Yard told The Independent it would not be providing “a running commentary” on the case.