No celebrations for McCanns

2008-07-21 20:22

London - The parents of missing British girl Madeleine McCann are relieved that their status as suspects has been lifted, a spokesperson said on Monday after Portuguese authorities closed their probe into the case.

Gerry and Kate McCann, whose daughter vanished last May while they were on holiday in the Algarve, want access to Portuguese police files, spokesperson Clarence Mitchell added.

"There is a degree of relief but no air of celebration whatsoever," he said, adding: "They should never have been arguidos (suspects). The fact that they have emerged from this without being charged proves that."

"They will welcome this news, but the whole thing has been a distraction," he added, saying: "The main thing now is to get everything back onto finding Madeleine. The only thing they care about is finding their daughter."

Madeleine, then aged three, vanished from a flat in the resort of Praia da Luz, on the Algarve, on May 3, 2007 as her parents dined with friends at a nearby restaurant.

The couple, both medical doctors, initially vowed not to leave Portugal until they found her, but came back to England after being made formal suspects in the case.

"The search for her will now continue, and we hope that the Portuguese police, the Portuguese authorities will continue to cooperate with their private investigation to enable that to happen," said Mitchell.

"They must cooperate and must allow access to the files for the private investigation to continue so that Madeleine can be found and brought home," he added.

"All of this has damaged their good reputation and they will now have to assess where they go from here."

- AFP