- Visit Madeleine's websiteA woman who saw Madeleine McCann being carried off in the arms of a mystery man is wracked with guilt that she did nothing to stop him, it has emerged.
A close friend of Kate and Gerry McCann, she saw a young blonde girl wearing "distinguishable" pyjamas and wrapped in a blanket.
Described as the "principal witness" in the case by police sources, the woman has now returned to the UK and is brooding over what she saw.
But the McCanns, from Rothley in Leicestershire, are said not to blame her and feel sorry for her torment.
Details of the sighting came as hundreds of calls were made to police about the description of a white man aged between 35 and 40 seen holding what was thought to be a child on the night Madeleine disappeared.
She was snatched from her bed on May 3 as she slept in the family's holiday apartment while her parents enjoyed a tapas meal yards away in the Algarve resort town of Praia Da Luz.
The witness, who has been advised by police not to discuss events of that night, joined the McCanns at dinner at about 9.30pm. As she walked past the family's property, she saw a man with a child wearing pink pyjamas in his arms.
"She thought it was odd, but thought it was the man's own child," the police source said. "He was walking urgently, neither running or walking."
After the alarm was raised, the friend "instantly" realised what she had seen and gave a statement and description to the authorities "within hours".
But sources said the significance was missed: "The officers who took the description did not seem interested, they just seemed to have filed it away. She went back to the UK and Leicestershire police said she was the principal witness to what happened," the source said.
"The view of the family is that this was Madeleine being taken. As a result they do not blame the woman, but she feels dreadful guilt. They feel sorry for her."
Meanwhile, Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry McCann are hoping to meet the Pope on Wednesday to discuss the plight of their daughter, their spokesman has said.
It will be the start of a series of visits the couple are planning to make around Europe.
Clarence Mitchell, the Foreign Office liaison officer for the family, is helping the McCanns plan the trip.
"I can confirm that approaches have been made to Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor and to the British ambassador to the Holy See and we are certainly exploring the possibility of Gerry and Kate McCann visiting Rome to meet the Pope in the near future," he said.
According to Vatican protocol, the family had to express a desire to go to Rome before the trip could be finally approved.
Representatives of the Pope were said to be very "receptive" to the idea of a meeting.
Mr and Mrs McCann have been offered the use of a private plane to make the trip by a British entrepreneur.
Courtesy from AOL
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