THE parents of Madeleine McCann saw hopes of clearing their names in her disappearance crushed yet again yesterday, amid reports that a new police dossier names them as suspects.
Gerry and Kate McCann had hoped their status as arguidos, or official suspects, in Portugal would be lifted in the coming days. But they may now remain under suspicion for years, after detectives submitted an interim report to prosecutors.
The Po
licia Judiciaria are said to admit that three-year-old Madeleine may have been abducted by an unknown party on 3 May from the Praia da Luz resort.
But they are they are keeping to their theory, it is reported, that the McCanns could have accidentally killed her and then disposed of her body.
Under new Portuguese laws, there were suggestions files on the case could be made public this week, eight months after her disappearance. The newspaper Correio da Manha said the Policia Judiciaria would hand over an interim report in which the McCanns remain at the centre of inquiries.
The insistence on naming the parents comes despite concern that forensic evidence from their flat and hire car is flawed. The McCanns, both 39, maintain their innocence.
Their lawyer, Edward Smethurst, said: "Any report about the leaked document we believe is completely without substance."
The only other official suspect, Robert Murat, had also hoped to be cleared in the next few days, but now faces the report's contention that the child may have been abducted.
Correio da Manha added that the police report would contain a request to re-interview the McCanns and their friends in Britain in the coming weeks.
The McCanns have been told by their lawyers they may have to go to the European Court of Human Rights to have their status as suspects lifted.
The prospect of the case dragging on for years was reinforced yesterday by the president of the National Union of Portuguese Judges, Antonio Martins, who said: "No-one knows what type of crime was committed. If it was homicide, the investigation can only be shelved after 20 years; if it was kidnap, 15 years."
The couple's spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said: "We hope once the police realise there is no case against Kate and Gerry they will lift their arguido status."
HOW THE ACCUSATIONS STARTEDONE month after Madeleine McCann disappeared from her bedroom in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz, while her parents dined with friends 50 metres away, the stream of accusations began.
On 6 June a German journalist asked the McCanns how they felt about the fact that "more and more people seem to be pointing the finger at them". It opened up a floodgate of theories.
On 6 August Portuguese news reports said British detectives using sniffer dogs found traces of blood on the wall of the apartment where Madeleine went missing, and in a Renault the couple hired. Later the traces were said to be a "100 per cent" match for Madeleine's DNA.
This led police to float theories that Madeleine was killed accidentally, by an overdose of sleeping tablets given to calm the "overactive" child or by falling off a sofa. The McCanns hid her body and disposed of it, it was suggested.
But DNA tests on the tiny traces from the room and the car actually showed they were as likely to come from a relative of Madeleine as from the girl herself. Only 15 out of 20 DNA strands matched, not the 20 out of 20 required.
By December, the Portuguese police were arguing with their UK counterparts, who reportedly called them "amateurish" in their collection of evidence.
Other bizarre theories focused on Kate McCann's words after she realised her daughter was gone.
It was reported that Mrs McCann said: "They've taken her, they've taken her," as if it was someone she knew. In fact she told friends: "Madeleine's gone, somebody's taken her."
Another claim was that the McCanns had called in Sky TV before the police even arrived – though the network did not report the abduction until the next day.
