The late Sir Clement Freud, the soft-spoken, bearded broadcaster and politician, has been accused of being a paedophile. In a TV programme broadcast in the UK on Tuesday night, Freud was accused of abusing two girls, raping one of them when she was 18.
The allegations relate to events in the late 1940s and the 1970s.
Freud, who died in 2009, has a holiday home in Praia da Luz, the Algarve town where the three-year-old Madeleine McCann disappeared in 2007.
Freud’s family stated that Sir Clement was not at the property at the time of Madeleine’s disappearance but Operation Grange detectives still investigating the case now have been alerted to the link between an alleged British paedophile and the McCann family who, after Madeline disappeared, were guests at Freud’s Algarve home and remained in touch.
A McCann spokesman said, “Clement Freud invited them round for drinks, just to show some sympathy. He had a family home in Praia da Luz and the invitation came as a bolt from the blue.
“They were grateful for his sympathy. It was a chance for them to take time out and have a drink by someone being friendly.”
Kate and Gerry McCann are reported as being horrified to hear the allegations about Freud in the TV programme that are repeated in many of today’s papers.
In other links picked up by the British media, Freud shared an office at the Houses of Parliament with Cyril Smith who also posthumously was declared a paedophile. Freud also gave convicted paedophile Rolf Harris his first TV break.
A spokesman for the McCanns said the family had not been aware of Freud’s child abuse allegations until now and did not know whether Freud has been investigated as part of Operation Grange.
The Metropolitan Police will not confirm or deny whether Freud had been investigated but it is likely that due to his high profile, detectives will have known whether or not Freud was in the Algarve at the time of Madeline’s disappearance.
The Praia da Luz villa at which Clement Freud hosted the McCanns
