Kate and Gerry McCann have said they are "heartened" by an assurance from Portuguese police that they are not being considered suspects in the search for their missing daughter Madeleine.

When asked if she was angry about recent press speculation to the contrary, Mrs McCann said the pain of missing her daughter was worse.

Speaking on the BBC's Heaven and Earth programme this morning, she said: "We've had the worst and nothing's going to be as bad as that really so, we'll just ride through it really.

"We just want Madeleine back, you know, and all this speculation will go on - and we've just got to ignore it really and keep focused."

The couple, who are Catholics, also talked about their reliance on their faith.

"It's usually in those darker moments when that fear and panic sets in again and you find yourself saying why, why, why do this to Madeleine, why have you let this happen?" she said.

"I kind of calm down and realise that God hasn't done this, somebody else has."

Mr McCann said that if "the worst" happened then he would feel comforted that Madeleine was "in a better place".

Asked whether they could forgive Madeleine's abductors, Mr McCann said: "We don't know who's taken her, we don't know why they've taken her and we don't know what's happened to Madeleine, so it's very difficult to forgive in advance.

"We've had incredible pain over the last three months and we pray that Madeleine hasn't."

The pair faced new distressing claims yesterday that their daughter may have been dead before they went to dinner on the evening of her disappearance.

They admitted that they have considered the possibility of her death, but are remaining positive.

The allegations came as Portuguese police admitted for the first time that Madeleine might be dead.

Chief Inspector Olegario Sousa told the BBC that fresh evidence had given new "intensity" to the possibility that she had been killed but confirmed that the McCanns were not suspects.

The couple said that they were pleased by that news and added: "We sincerely hope that Madeleine is still alive."

Earlier, a Portuguese newspaper claimed that the hire car used by the McCanns may have been used to transport the toddler's dead body.

The newspaper, Sol, alleged that British sniffer dogs have picked up traces of the girl's corpse in the holiday apartment from where she disappeared on May 3.

An unnamed expert it quoted said: "In order for the dogs to detect a body, this would have to stay in place where it died for a minimum of two hours."

Given that Mrs McCann discovered Madeleine was missing at 10pm, this would mean the youngster died some time between being collected from a creche at 6.30pm and when the couple left the flat for dinner at 8.30pm, Sol suggested.

It also claimed that police sources believe Madeleine's body could have been hidden for two months before being moved.

Speculating about where the youngster's body might now be, an unnamed source said: "Perhaps dumped in the sea or buried."

Friends of the McCanns said the speculation was "ludicrous and utterly untrue". One friend said: "No one could seriously suggest that Kate or Gerry had anything to do with Madeleine's disappearance."