THIS exclusive picture shows just how close Maddie McCann’s family were to their sleeping daughter when she was snatched.
It was taken from the balcony of their holiday apartment ? and shows the tapas bar where her parents were eating with friends on that fateful night.The diner is just past the pool and only 50 yards from their two-bedroom apartment. Kate and Gerry McCann, both 38, popped back from the restaurant to make regular checks on Maddie and their twins Sean and Amelie, two.
The picture was taken by June Hughes, 52, who stayed in the apartment days before the McCann family began their ill-fated holiday in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz.
June said: “The parents would have been able to see the walls of the apartment from the bar. It isn’t far. But they wouldn’t have seen the doors or windows as they are in a recess.”
Snatch ... Maddie hours before kidnap
One theory in Maddie’s kidnap is that the abductor forced back a plastic screen on a back bedroom window to get into the flat.
And chillingly, June revealed a bedroom shutter on a front window at the apartment was broken when they arrived.
It was fixed within 20 minutes of their arrival ? but she always felt “vulnerable” in the apartment, on the end of the block.June, from Glasgow, and her partner checked into the apartment at the Mark Warner complex on April 14. She said: “It seemed very isolated and we felt vulnerable. It’s one of the first things we noticed. We thought we could get broken into.
“The apartment seemed almost back to front. The main door is at the rear. It was strange and we felt a bit out on a limb at the end of the building.”
The one-windowed room where Maddie slept is normally furnished with two single beds.
But the McCanns had added cots for their twins to sleep in during their stay.
June also revealed she has been trawling through holiday snaps for clues to Maddie’s kidnap.
She added: “We’ve checked to see if there was anybody suspicious in the background in our pictures, but we’ve had no joy.
Hit back ... Kate and Gerry McCann in resort
“We never saw anybody hanging about the apartment.
“But there were a few times when we came home and our garden gate was open.
“We did wonder who would have done that at the time.”June also blasted Portuguese police ? who have been under increasing criticism since the kidnap 29 days ago.
She said: “We’re surprised they haven’t contacted us as part of their inquiry. We stayed in the same apartment as the McCanns and we opened and closed those shutters, so our fingerprints must be all over the place.
“Surely the Portuguese police should have followed that up.”
Cops in the Algarve resort yesterday revealed they are following up leads from PSYCHICS. They believe one of the dozens who have been in touch may be the kidnapper.
Detectives said the abductor could be using the “method” of pretending to be a psychic to reveal the whereabouts of four-year-old Maddie.
Det Chief Inspector Olegario Sousa yesterday said they were checking through emails from psychics ? many containing maps and co-ordinates of where Maddie might be. He said: “There’s an enormous amount of work to verify the possible leads.
“We cannot put these messages in the bin. There’s always a clear reference to a possible location.”
Meanwhile the McCanns, both doctors from Rothley, Leics, hit out at critics who have accused them of abandoning tots Sean and Amelie to hunt for Maddie.
They were “deeply hurt” over the comments following their trip to The Vatican for an audience with The Pope on Wednesday.
The twins were being looked after by Kate’s sister Trish Cameron and her husband Sandy.
Kate and Gerry are in Madrid today as part of their quest and are planning visits to Berlin, Amsterdam and Morocco over the next week.
A family spokesman said the couple believed the twins are better off in a “stable routine” than travelling around Europe.
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