The Portuguese police say that they intend to close the case on Madeleine McCann's disappearance by Christmas.

This is being widely reported as a major blow in the hunt to find Madeleine but surely it is nothing but good news?

The Policia Judiciaria of Portugal has been nothing but an obstruction from the very start.

They failed to close their borders for 24 hours. They sprinkled their cigarette ash on the carpet of the McCanns' hotel room. They have fed all manner of trash and lies to their tame press. And they have treated Madeleine's devastated parents as the major suspects.

So much precious time has been wasted - a footprint on the hire car sent to a forensics lab in the UK to be examined for DNA evidence now turns out to belong to a Portuguese policeman.

The Policia Judiciaria of Portugal is quitting? Good riddance to them. The McCanns will be better off without them.

Ironically, the surrender of the Portuguese police comes just as there are hundreds of alleged sightings of Madeleine in Morocco and just as it seems it might still be possible to get that little girl back to her family.

There have been sightings of Madeleine before now. There was the tourist who was convinced that a blonde Moroccan child was Madeleine. And there was the woman at a Belgium service station who was convinced she had seen Maddy, when what she had seen was a confused little girl with fair hair being introduced to her father's new girlfriend.

But Naoual Malhi, the Moroccan doctor who is certain she saw Madeleine, is very different. Dr Malhi is plausible. She is credible.

Clearly an intelligent, compassionate woman, she is so positive that she saw Madeleine being bundled into a taxi in Fnidk, in northern Morocco, that she has returned to the country with investigators from Metodo 3, the Spanish private detectives hired by the McCanns. It is worth noting that Dr Malhi neither wants nor expects any payment for her efforts. I believe her.

Perhaps I am an idiot, or merely one of the millions who wants this terrible story to have a happy ending, but I still think there is a chance to get Madeleine back.

There have been 400 calls reporting sightings of her in the Rif mountain region of Morocco. Can they really all be wrong? Can they really all be out to make a couple of quid out of someone else's tragedy? I think she is alive. I think her parents believe she is alive.

If the child seen in Morocco is Madeleine, then she remains in extreme danger as the forces of justice close in. What is certain is that the detectives of Metodo 3 are the McCanns' best chance of getting their daughter back.

What is certain is that losing the blundering efforts of the Policia Judiciaria of Portugal will be no great loss. They have done more harm than good.

Case closed? The

Policia Judiciaria can cease their investigations if they like. But until that child is found - dead or alive - and until the evil souls responsible for her abduction are run down and brought to justice, the case of Madeleine McCann will never be closed.