Smash hit

Mr Murat’s parents were then living in Richmond-upon-Thames, but moved to Portugal, where he was educated.

As a young man, he returned to Britain, where he took a variety of jobs and enjoyed playing darts and clay pigeon shooting.

Mr Murat, who lost an eye in a motorbike accident as a teenager when he crashed into the wall of a railway station, worked for the turkey tycoon, Bernard Matthews, at the company factory in Lenwade, Norfolk, between 1994 and 2000.

He and his wife, who has a son, David, now 20, by a previous marriage, bought a modest, semi-detached, three-bedroom house, now worth £190,000, in The Street, Hockering - a quiet Norfolk village near Deerham (population 230).

Madeleine McCann: the key questions

Why are the "Tapas 9" key to solving the Madeleine mystery?

Related Internet Links

• The latest full coverage of Madeleine McCann

BACKGROUND

• McCanns consider interview bids

• Madeleine McCann: the global reaction

• The forgotten victim in the McCann case

Multimedia

• Pictures: searching for Madeleine

• Video: McCann family start holiday

Related Links

• Madeleine case Briton confirmed as a suspect

• Would a chip keep my child safe?

• ‘We believe she is being looked after’

Mr Murat went on to become a successful car salesman with Inchcape for four years before moving on to work at Desira car dealership in Norwich, selling Nissans, Alfa Romeos, Fiats and Citroens.

But he also earned £150 a time as a translator for Norfolk police, using his language skills to help their inquiries among the large Portuguese community in the county.

Mr Bailey remains certain of his friend’s innocence. He said: “I would trust him with my own daughter. It was a complete shock to hear what has happened in Portugal. If I was to give him a character reference, I would describe him as brilliant and a real people person.

”He is ever such a likeable guy and probably one of the most helpful people you could come across. He was very conscientious when I worked with him and spent masses of time with customers - almost to the point where he would become annoying. It’s just the way he is.

”He is one of those overly helpful people who likes to get involved. Sometimes at work, I had to tell him to go away in a friendly way.”

Mr Murat had a reputation, not only in the car trade but in Hockering, as something of a Good Samaritan.

His next door neighbour, Colin Shackcloth, 85, said: “He is a lovely man, but, two years ago, I realised he was gone. I went round with a little present at Christmas, a box of chocolates and Dawn said: ’Robert has gone back and he is stopping there."

Mr Shackcloth, a retired display manager, added: “He always struck me as a down-to-earth kind of fellow. If you wanted anything, he would help. If you needed it, he would be round to replace a bulb for you. What he is supposed to have done just doesn’t fit.

”They were both very nice to us. We never had an angry word since they moved in about 11 years ago. I can’t say a bad word about him.”

Police stood guard at the house, from which Mrs Murat was driven away at speed by police late on Monday night carrying her daughter in a blanket.

The little girl and her mother are being cared for at an undisclosed address.

Mrs Murat’s mother, Margaret Chapman, who lives in Norwich declined to comment.

Geoffrey Livock, 71, said: “I was speaking to Dawn after the little girl went missing last week and she said that Rob had been helping out the police in Portugal. Dawn said she could not understand how anyone could take a little girl like that.”

Times Recommends

• Please help: maimed children of war want their lives back
• Cabal seizes diamond riches to buy power
• White House gatecrashers got to the president