In an
extraordinary twist, Mrs McCann's family
said detectives now believed she caused
the four-year-old's death in their
holiday apartment, then hid the body
before returning a month later to
dispose of it.
Shortly after midnight, Mr McCann
emerged from the police station with his
lawyer Carlos Pinto de Abreu who read
out a short statement.
He said: "Kate and Gerry McCann have
today both been declared arguidos with
no bail conditions and no charges have
been brought against them. The
investigation continues."
Mr McCann stared straight ahead as his
suspect status was announced and refused
to answer questions from awaiting
journalists. A crowd which had been
attending a concert in the town square
earlier listened to the announcement and
several people gasped audibly.
A family spokesman David Hughes said Mr
McCann had been asked the same questions
as his wife but he refused to comment on
when the couple would return to Britain.
Mr McCann was driven away in a silver
Audi to return to his wife.
It was claimed that police had offered
Mrs McCann a "deal" of a two-year jail
sentence if she confessed and told them
where the body was.
The astonishing developments followed
the discovery of blood in a car the
McCanns hired four weeks after
Madeleine's disappearance 128 days ago,
which police believe proves Mrs McCann
killed Madeleine.
The allegation was dismissed as
"ludicrous" by Mrs McCann's husband
Gerry, while her parents said the police
investigation had become "a joke".
Mrs McCann was declared a formal
suspect, or "arguida" by police, who
spent a second day questioning her in
the Algarve town of Portimao before
releasing her without charge five hours
later.
Mrs McCann has been warned by her lawyer
Carlos Pinto de Abreu to be prepared for
the fact she might now be arrested and
charged.
A family spokeswoman, Justine McGuinness,
revealed that Mrs McCann had been asked
outright if she had killed her daughter,
and was "shocked and angry" at the
allegation, which she emphatically
denied.
Miss McGuinness said: "They believe they
have evidence to show that in some way
she's involved in the death of her
daughter, which of course is completely
ludicrous.
"They have suggested that blood has been
found in a hire car that they hired 25
days after Madeleine was taken. How on
earth could you hide a body for that
long? We are in a hot climate.
"When this was put to Kate she was very
taken aback. It was the first time she
had heard the allegation and she
actually swore at police."
Mr McCann's sister, Philomena, later
revealed the plea bargain offered by
detectives.
She said: "They tried to get Kate to
confess to having accidentally killed
Madeleine by offering her a deal through
her lawyer, which was 'if you say you
killed Madeleine by accident and then
hid her and then disposed of the body,
then we can grant you a two-year jail
sentence or even less. You may get off
because people feel sorry for you'."
According to one report, the police
asked Mrs McCann, a doctor, whether she
had sedated her daughter, leading to
speculation that detectives think she
may have accidentally given Madeleine an
overdose.
Mr
McCann, 39, expressed his own
frustrationin
his blog on the Madeleine campaign
website, saying: "We will fight this all
the way."
Police had told Mrs McCann before she
went for questioning that they had 22
"difficult" questions to put to her
further to the information she had given
them during 11 hours of questioning on
Thursday.
Whistles and jeers mingled with shouts
of support as she arrived at the police
station today carrying Madeleine's
favourite toy, cuddle cat.
