A villa that is 150 yards from the apartment where Madeleine McCann disappeared 12 days ago was searched by Portuguese detectives last night.

Robert Murat, who had been acting as a translator for the police searching for Madeleine, and whose mother owns the villa, was believed to be being questioned by police at their headquarters in Portimao.

Mr Murat had joined the search for Madeleine on the night she went missing and had been closely involved with the investigation ever since. He told friends that he was working as a translator between Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry, and the police.

Mr Murat, 33, had said he was deeply concerned about the case because he had recently lost a case involving the right of his own three-year-old daughter, who looked like the missing girl, to live with him.

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He became known to British reporters and made himself available to help them to operate in a foreign country. He had joked that he might be a suspect in the investigation. Unconfirmed reports early this morning suggested that Mr Murat may have been released after answering police questions.

On Monday last week detectives were alerted to concerns about Mr Murat’s unusual behaviour by Lori Campbell, a journalist who works for the Sunday Mirror. She said: “He was acting very strangely. I found him to be creepy. When he was talking to me he was vague about his background. He was coming in and out of the family apartment speaking with the media and acting like he was somebody official.”

When a photographer took Mr Murat’s photograph, he became nervous and asked her to delete the picture, she said.

Mr Murat, who described himself as a property developer, has been staying at the villa with his mother, Jenny, 71, who has lived at the property for about 40 years. The house, Casa Liliana, has an uninterrupted view of the flat from which Madeleine disappeared.

Mr Murat has recently been in Britain visiting his ex-wife, Dawn, and their daughter in Hockering, Norfolk. Mrs Murat last night refused to comment at the home that she used to share with him. Speaking behind a closed door she said: “I have nothing to say. Go away.” At about 10pm she was taken from the house by police in an unmarked car. It is believed that she was with her daughter.

Geoffrey Livock, 71, who lives in Hockering, said: “Robert is a goodhearted chap. He was never in any kind of trouble here. He is just a normal fellow.”

Last night the Policia Judiciaria confirmed that three people were being questioned in connection with Madeleine’s disappearance. Chief Inspector Olegario Sousa said: “Since 7am we have been making some actions in the field and until this moment they are working in the place [the villa]. Some people have been brought here to the police department to make statements but these are not arrests. I think one person may be British.”

Police officers wearing white suits used by forensic science search teams last night scoured the villa and its grounds. They also drained its pool as they searched for any evidence that Madeleine may have been taken there.

Mr Murat had lived on the Algarve with his English mother and Portuguese father until he moved to England when he was in his late teens. It is believed he had only recently returned to Portugal after his marriage broke down.

Gaynor de Jesus, who went to school with Mr Murat, said: “He said he was an official translator for the police. He has a very easy way of coming across with them [the police] like he has known them all his life. He was quite easygoing .

“All witness accounts, everything that’s been coming into them, he has had first-hand information.”

Hundreds of apartments have been searched during the past 11 days.

The search of a property of someone closely connected with the police investigation will raise concerns about why police did not act sooner on information from a British journalist.

David Shelton, who co-ordinated the public search teams, said last night: “Robert was there on the first day helping with the police. He later told me he had signed a declaration of secrecy and could not talk about his work.

“I didn’t really know him before but he seemed like a nice normal guy.”

Mrs Murat insisted last night that her son had not done anything wrong. “I have been told not to say anything,” she said. “I insist the police issue a formal statement when all this is over to clear his name.”

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