Portugal backs cops over Maddie

2007-09-11 16:51

Lisbon - The Portuguese government defended the police inquiry into missing British girl Madeleine McCann on Tuesday as prosecutors started studying a report that could lead to charges against the parents.

The parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, who have been named formal suspects in the case, have strongly criticised Portuguese investigators.

But Justice Minister Alberto Costa said he had "full confidence in the work of the police" investigating the disappearance of Madeleine from the family's holiday apartment in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz on May 3.

Police were working with "all the competence and means necessary" to solve the case, he said.

"What we are all hoping for, and what we all need, is for this matter to be cleared up," the minister said.

Police sent their case against the McCanns to the prosecutor's office on Tuesday. A decision will then be made whether or not to lay formal charges.

Media campaign

A spokesperson for the prosecutors office in Portimao, the main town near Praia da Luz, said the police file was received on Tuesday. The chief prosecutor was expected to make a statement later.

Since returning to Britain at the weekend, just after they were named as suspects, the McCanns have launched a media campaign criticising Portuguese police and insisting they played no role in their daughter's disappearance or possible death.

The McCann family has said Portuguese police believe Kate McCann had some kind of role in the accidental death of her daughter and then both parents tried to cover it up.

Portuguese police have however dismissed claims by some British media that test results of blood found in a car hired by the McCanns were a perfect match with Madeleine's DNA.

Kate and Gerry McCann had been supportive of the police probe until they were named as suspects on Friday.

The 39-year-old doctors abandoned their high-profile vigil at Praia da Luz and took their two-year-old twins back to England for the first time as a family since Madeleine disappeared.

'Great rigour'

Kate McCann told the British press she was being framed by the Portuguese police to cover up judicial and legislative failings.

Portuguese judicial police chief Alipio Ribeiro said late on Monday that his investigators had shown "great rigour" in their work and were working with British police.

But faced with the avalanche of British media reports defending the couple he chose not to say more.

On Tuesday Gerry McCann wrote in an online diary that the couple was confident they could prove their innocence.

- AFP