Australians 'perplexed' by link with Madeleine investigation

Published on Monday 10 August 2009 20:44

THE widow and daughter of an Australian property tycoon have said they are "perplexed" by reports linking their luxury yacht to the Madeleine McCann investigation.

The vessel, Willpower, was moored at Barcelona in Spain around the time when a woman with an Australian accent reportedly asked a British man if he was there to deliver her "new daughter".

The McCanns' private detectives last week launched an appeal for information about the mysterious woman, described as a Victoria Beckham lookalike.

Rhonda Wyllie and Melissa Karlson, the widow and daughter of the late Australian multi-millionaire Bill Wyllie, insisted they were not in Barcelona at that time.

A Wyllie Group spokesman said: "Rhonda and Melissa are perplexed by the media coverage of the past 24 hours, especially given that neither of them was in Spain on the night in question."

There is no suggestion that they or any of their yacht's crew had anything to do with Madeleine's disappearance.

The little girl was nearly four when she went missing from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in Portugal on 3 May 2007 while her parents dined with friends nearby.

Just over 72 hours later, in the early hours of 7 May, two British men saw the Victoria Beckham lookalike while on a night out in the popular Port Olimpic Marina in Barcelona.

When one of the British men approached and spoke to her, she reportedly asked him: "Are you here to deliver my new daughter?"

McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said the private detectives were investigating boat movements around Portugal and Spain.

He added that the investigators were ready to travel to Australia.