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Waitress Denies Being 'Woman In Purple' In Madeleine McCann Case

Waitress Denies Being 'Woman In Purple' In Madeleine McCann Case

The 48-year-old woman has spoken out to say it wasn't her and that she has not been contacted by any officers from Scotland Yard

Claire Reid

Claire Reid

A woman who was accused of being the 'woman in purple' in the Madeleine McCann disappearance has spoken out to deny it was her.

Two separate witnesses say they saw a mysterious 'woman in purple' standing outside the apartment the McCanns were staying at, shortly before the little girl vanished.

A local criminologist, Heriberto Janosch González, has recently named the woman as Luisa Todorov, a waitress who lives less than a mile away from the Praia da Luz, where Maddie disappeared.

The apartment were three-year-old Madeleine disappeared from. Credit: PA

The 58-year-old was working at the resort but has insisted she isn't the woman in purple and has never been approached by police from Scotland Yard.

She told the Mirror: "I've no idea about any woman in purple. It wasn't me. I spoke to the police a long time ago about the Madeleine case.

"I don't really want to talk about it, nobody around here does, it brings back lots of bad memories.

"Nobody knows what happened to her. If the British police want to speak to me that's fine, but I don't know anything."

The woman had previously given a statement to police in Portugal five days after the disappearance, alongside her husband Stefan - both have strenuously denied any involvement. It's believed her husband moved back to his native Bulgaria, after a number of staff were made redundant from the holiday complex.

Credit: PA

Police in the UK have been hoping to find and speak to the woman in purple, and it was recently reported that González had managed to track her down.

"I have been combing through all the police files trying to identify who the woman in purple could be. It has been widely reported that Yard officers are in Bulgaria," González said.

"Examining all the known statements it seems highly likely the police are seeking the Todorovs. They are the only known people with a clear link to Bulgaria. I have been unable to trace them in Portugal and believe they could have moved away."

A witness who spotted the woman, told the Daily Mail: 'She caught my eye because she was dressed in purple-plum clothes. It struck me as strange.

"It's so usual for anyone, particularly a woman, to be standing alone on the street in our resort, just watching a building.

Credit: PA

"The next morning, we heard that a little girl had gone missing, and I later told police about the woman I'd seen right outside.

"I didn't recognise her and don't have a clue who she is, but she seems a bit suspicious."

Operation Grange, which is investigating the case, has been scaled down over the years and currently has just four officers working on it.

Sources: Mirror; Daily Mail

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: UK News, News, Portugal, Madeleine McCann