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[Black Widow]

Portuguese detectives are not dropping the Madeleine McCann case due to lack of evidence, the country's Attorney General has said.
Madeleine McCann

Madeleine McCann: Missing since May last year

Media reports suggested the investigation into the British girl's disappearance was being discontinued because of lack of evidence.

But in a statement the Portuguese Attorney General, Fernando Pinto Monteiro, denied this.

The statement said that police had handed over their final report but that officials had made no decision on whether to halt the investigation.

Two Portuguese newspapers said the Public Prosecutor's office intended to call off their search for the girl before July 14, when the customary official secrecy period covering the investigation ends.

Police could re-open the case if new evidence emerges, the papers said.

Both papers - Correio da Manha and Jornal de Noticias - cited unidentified police sources.

Madeleine disappeared on May 3, 2007, days before her fourth birthday.

She had been left sleeping in a holiday apartment as her parents Kate and Gerry dined with friends in a nearby tapas bar in the resort of Praia da Luz in southern Portugal.

Her parents were made formal suspects on September 7 last year in one of the many dramatic twists in the case. They insist Madeleine was abducted.

Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns' spokesman, told Sky News: "As usual, these are non-attributed sources and we have not heard this officially. But if it is true it's not before time - Kate and Gerry have suffered enough.

"Police should lift their arguido (suspect) status and should pass their information over to our investigators who continue to work on the case.

"We still need to find Madeleine."

Sky News' crime correspondent Martin Brunt said: "Don't expect any confirmation from the Portuguese police any time soon - but it does signal that they are coming to the end of the investigation.

"If the police stop treating the McCanns as suspects the couple would hope that more effort would be put into finding their little girl."

Another Briton, Robert Murat, was also declared a suspect in the case.

Portuguese journalist Rui Pinto de Almeida told Sky News: "This is a formal legal requirement in Portugal and there remains the possibility of re-opening the case."

The Expresso newspaper says on its website that, according to a police source, the report on the investigation has not reached any conclusions and does not say whether it is a case of abduction, homicide, or concealing of a body.

Another source told the newspaper: "In normal circumstances, with this sort of
a report, the decision would have to be to shelve it in the hope of getting better evidence in the future."

The final report is to go the Ministerio Publico in Portimao, where a decision will be taken in the coming days, according to the newspaper.


sky news

[JohnCenaFan28]

I'm glad they picked it back up.