Social services talk to McCanns
2007-09-13 21:23
London - The parents of Madeleine McCann, the girl who vanished during a family holiday in Portugal, have met British child protection officials, the Press Association news agency reported on Thursday.
Gerry and Kate McCann met representatives from their local county council, who have the power to take their two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie into state care or place them on an official register, at their home in central England.
They returned to Rothley, Leicestershire, from the resort of Praia da Luz in the Algarve on Sunday after being named as suspects in the case by Portuguese police.
Madeleine, who would now be four, went missing from their holiday apartment on May 3 as her parents ate an evening meal with friends at a nearby restaurant.
It is standard procedure for British officials, who will consider their next steps in the coming weeks, to speak to parents named as suspects in an overseas criminal case.
The PA reported that the couple were keen to meet them, while Gerry McCann's brother John told the London Evening Standard newspaper: "Kate has invited social services to make sure everything was OK, that was at her behest."
- AFP