POLICE HAVE today (Sunday) resumed their search of Robert Murat’s home at Praia da Luz.
Mr Murat is the only official named suspect in the Madeleine disappearance and denies involvement.
Police returned to the house at 7am to search inside the property and its grounds.
His uncle, Ralph Eveleigh, told the BBC that his family have welcomed the search.
“What we’re hoping is it will actually clear Robert completely of this whole investigation.
“He’s very, very pleased with what’s happening because the English police seem to be calling the shots. They’re in charge of the whole search of the house,” said Mr Eveleigh.
Up to 10 officers, including two British detectives, spent 12 hours on Saturday searching Mr Murat’s villa, where he lives with his mother.
Much of the day was spent clearing thick vegetation, and a sniffer dog with a British handler inspected the premises.
Mr Murat was on the premises with his lawyer as the search was conducted on Saturday.
The search comes as Mrs McCann spoke of her regret at leaving her children alone in their holiday apartment while she and her husband Gerry had dinner at a nearby restaurant on the night the four-year-old disappeared.
“We are just so desperately sorry. Every hour now, I still question, ‘Why did I think that was safe?’ If I had had to think for one second, ‘Should we have dinner and leave them?’, I wouldn’t have done it.
“It didn’t happen like that. I didn’t have to think for a second, that’s how safe I felt.”
She said that she tucked Madeleine into bed that night, the little girl said: “Mummy, I’ve had the best day ever. I’m having lots and lots of fun.”
Asked what message she would send to her daughter, Mrs McCann said: “I would tell her that we love her. She knows we love her very much.
“She knows we are looking for her, that we are doing absolutely everything and we will never give up.”
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