The father of Madeleine McCann today hit back at police claims that his
daughter was killed inside her apartment.
Gerry McCann said he was a "million miles" from changing his belief
that the four year old was abducted on the night she disappeared.
Madeleine McCann
It comes despite detectives leading the inquiry now focusing on the belief that
Madeleine has died, possibly by accident in the apartment on the night she
disappeared.
Mr McCann, speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, said that from the very
first moment he believed his daughter was snatched.
"I am not even close, I am a million miles away, from changing my mind
about what happened that night," he said.
In a further sign of the McCanns growing frustration over a series of smears,
it emerged today they may sue Portugal's
most famous TV reporter.
They have asked to be sent a video tape of a broadcast by Sandra Felgueiras,
who works for station RTP, from 10 days ago.
Meanwhile, in the latest in a series of interviews with foreign media to keep
Madeleine's plight in the public eye, Mr McCann told Spanish journalists there
was a chance that she was taken to Spain, because the border is so
close to Praia da Luz and was not locked down on the night she went missing.
The interviews were published in Spanish papers today and led to an immediate
alleged sighting in Cartagena, eastern Spain, at a
petrol station.
Two women claimed they had seen a girl with a man who was acting suspiciously
and pushed her into his Citroen ZX car when he was seen by them.
Despite the sightings, Portuguese detectives leading the investigation into
Madeleine's disappearance, including Guilhermino Encarnação and Goncalo Amaral,
are convinced that the four year old is dead, and have exhausted all leads
suggesting that she was abducted.
It is now understood that the direction of the inquiry changed a month ago,
when a key piece of evidence emerged, which has not been disclosed.
A senior police source said: "They say that abduction is no longer the
main lead and that accidental death is the strongest theory they are working
on.
"They are awaiting test results on forensics from inside the apartment but
even without them, they say they have another lead which points to Madeleine's
death.
"It could be a murder or it could be an accident, and at the moment they
are leaning towards the latter.
"The apartment is the key – all the answers lie there, they say – but they
are far from resolving what exactly happened and why the body
disappeared."
Police continue to insist that Mr and Mrs McCann are not suspects, and that
there is "no logic" in reports smearing their friends as potentially
being involved.
Detectives will not elaborate on what evidence they have to support the theory,
however it is understood that the new lead emerged in mid July.
Police had released the apartment as a crime scene on June 11. It was cleaned
and rented out to another family.
But in mid July they returned and then later called in expert help from British
sniffer dogs, who detected new samples, which are still being tested. The
apartment now lies empty again and has been locked by police.
With the shift in emphasis, detectives have told Mr and Mrs McCann to abandon
plans to leave Portugal
amid new hopes of a breakthrough.
Mr McCann said that while he still clings to the hope his daughter is alive, he
realised that to find her now would be almost unprecedented.
He said: "We have done a lot of research into missing children and the
percentage of minors who have ever reappeared is very small.
"Obviously a very long time has passed, but we will do everything we can
to make sure Madeleine does not become a statistic.
"We are going to keep looking for our daughter, because we need to find
her.
"It’s possible Madeleine is dead, but is also possible she is alive."
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