Australian millionaires linked to Madeleine case

An Australian millionaire and her daughter have been linked to the worldwide hunt for Madeleine McCann, after it emerged that their super-yacht was spotted in Barcelona shortly after the little girl went missing in Portugal in May 2007.
 
Private detectives hired by Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry McCann revealed last week that a new British witness had come forward with information that could be crucial to the two-year investigation. The witness, a middle-aged British man who wants to remain anonymous, said he spoke to a well-dressed woman at Barcelona's Port Olimpic marina, three days after Madeleine went missing.
 
The woman, who he described as "a Victoria Beckham lookalike", spoke in an Australian accent and asked: "Are you here to deliver my daughter?"
 
Neither Rhonda Wylie, 52, nor her 31-year-old daughter Melissa Karlson were in Barcelona at the time. But the family's 105ft Sunseeker, the Willpower, was the only Australian-registered vessel moored in the city's marina that night and investigators now hope to speak to its captain and crew. They are keen to follow up the theory that Madeleine could have been transported by sea to Barcelona after being snatched from Praia da Luz in Portugal on May 3 2007.
 
Wylie, who is the widow of Australian property tycoon Bill Wylie, and her daughter Melissa have denied any link to the three-year-old's disappearance but said they would do all they could to help the investigation. Melissa Karlson is the managing director of her late father's Aus $500m Perth-based real estate investment empire, the Wyllie Group.
 
But the Willpower's former skipper, a British man who asked not to be named, said yesterday there was "absolutely no link" between the boat and Madeleine's whereabouts. "I'm afraid this is a total red herring," he said.
 
There were no Australians on board the yacht at that time, he added. "The only people onboard were myself, my girlfriend, who is blonde and as British as they come, and an American couple who were working as crew." ·