McCanns may face charges

2007-09-10 14:54

Praia Da Luz, Portugal - Portuguese police will soon send a report on British toddler Madeleine McCann to prosecutors who will decide if the parents should be charged over her disappearance, a spokesperson said on Monday.

Police also hit back at criticism of their investigation and tactics by the parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, who returned to Britain on Sunday after being named as formal suspects in the case.

"The papers are being finished and should be sent today (Monday) or tomorrow to the prosecutor handling the case," police spokesperson Olegario Sousa told AFP.

The prosecutor will decide if Kate and Gerry McCann should be questioned or charged.

Madeleine McCann, now aged four, disappeared from her bedroom in a holiday complex in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz on May 3 as the parents ate in a restaurant nearby.

The McCanns family say police believe the mother was involved in the accidental death of the toddler.

The parents, both 39-year-old doctors, have strongly denied any link to the disappearance and strongly criticised the police, who have not spoken publicly about any suspicions against the couple.

'I have full confidence in the team carrying out the inquiry'

"Police don't want a murder in Portugal and all the publicity about them not having paedophile laws here, so they're blaming us," Kate McCann told one British newspaper in an interview published on Sunday.

Gerry McCann has called the allegations "ludicrous" and said he no longer had faith in the Portuguese inquiry into his daughter's disappearance.

The police spokesperson, an inspector, said: "He has the right to express his opinions. We take all this with tranquillity. I have full confidence in the team carrying out the inquiry."

Sousa added: "For 20 years I have heard people who have been made suspects criticise us and it is not that which stops them from being condemned."

The spokesperson said that the inquiry would continue with more results from forensic tests expected from samples taken from Madeleine's bedroom. According to media reports, police found blood in the room which could be her's.

The tests on samples found by British police sniffer dogs were carried out by a laboratory in England. "We have only had some of the results," said Sousa. "Others are expected."

Their departure 'complicates the investigation'

The first samples returned to Portugal just before the parents were named as formal suspects.

Portuguese police would not comment on Portuguese media reports that they are about to carry out new searches around the Ocean Club holiday complex where the McCanns, Madeleine and their two-year-old twins were staying.

Prosecutors will decide whether there is enough evidence to lay charges against the couple, who were given permission to return to Britain at the weekend.

If the prosecutor decides there is a risk that evidence could be destroyed or that the suspects could try to escape, they could order new measures as far as being remanded in custody.

The police spokesperson emphasised however that the McCanns return to their home in Leicestershire, England, had been "completely legal".

Their departure "complicates the investigation", Sousa said, but the McCanns can be summoned back "at any moment".

- AFP