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Madeleine McCann mystery deepens withmidnight call - Robert Murat theman quizzed in the Madeleine McCann case made a late night call to a Russian computer expert on the night Maddie was abducted it has been claimed. Computer expert Sergey Malinka, 22, had reportedly said it had been a year since he had any contact with Mr. Murat. But last night it was alleged that mobile phone records showed Mr. Malinka was called by Mr. Murat at 11:40pm on the night Madeleine went missing.

Madeleine McCann Suspect Robert Murat: Mystery Midnight Call

This is London UK reports that Murat has said he was at home in bed when the child was snatched from her family's nearby holiday apartment at around 10pm on May 3. But according to police sources, he made a mobile call at 11.40pm to Russian computer expert Sergey Malinka, though both men claim they hardly know each other. That puts his alibi in jeopardy, reports claim

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Mr. Malinka, who moved to Portugal from Moscow seven years ago, said he could not comment on reports about the phone call in the London Evening Standard until the police investigation was over. Both he and Mr. Murat, 33, have protested their innocence.

But Portuguese police sources seem very concerned about the discrepancy. The cops said it was 'bizarre' for the men to speak late at night, then claim not to be close. One source said: "Why have both men been saying they hardly know each other when they clearly were on good enough terms to speak by mobile phone just before midnight? It strikes us as bizarre."

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The Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manha reported yesterday that police had so far found no traces of Madeleine anywhere in Mr. Murat's villa.