Maddie files made public
2008-08-05 07:35
Lisbon - Thirty thousand pages of files from Portuguese police investigations into the disappearance of British four-year-old Madeleine McCann were made available on Monday to media organisations, local outlets said.
The files - contained on 17 DVDs - were opened up by the Portimao tribunal in the country's Algarve, according to a correspondent for local station Sic Noticias en Algarve.
A queue of around 30 media organisations, including British journalists, had requested access.
The Portuguese attorney general's office announced on July 21 that they were closing the investigation into the disappearance of the British girl, lifting the "suspect" label from her parents due to lack of evidence.
Madeleine vanished from an apartment in the southern resort of Praia da Luz on May 3 2007, days before her fourth birthday, as her parents Gerry and Kate McCann, both medical doctors, dined with friends at a nearby restaurant.
Despite a worldwide publicity campaign and the couple hiring their own private investigators, there has been no proof of the girl's fate or whereabouts since.
- AFP