Portuguese police were justified in scrutinising Kate and Gerry McCann in the
investigation into their daughter's disappearance, British police sources have
claimed.
A senior source close to the investigation said that the results of further DNA
tests had filled in "more pieces of the jigsaw" in the case of
missing Madeleine.
Tests are currently being carried out at the Forensic Science laboratory in Birmingham on dozens of
samples of hairs and fibres collected by British police in early August, after
Portuguese authorities had appealed for help.
It is believed that new results suggest that a DNA match from a sample found in
the couple's hire car was not transferred via her clothes or toys.
Sources said the investigation is focusing "where it should be", but
admitted that none of the forensic material uncovered so far provides
definitive proof that the four-year-old is dead.
A British source close to the investigation said: "Everything that has
emerged indicates that the investigation is focusing where it should.
"This is a very complex case and forensics are rarely conclusive on their
own, but the new material adds to the existing picture that has been built up
by police and fills in a few more pieces of the jigsaw."
The turning point in the investigation came in mid-July after Portuguese police
admitted the case had stalled and appealed for help for the first time from the
UK.
The National Police Improvement Agency (NPIA) provided a checklist of what
should be done - including refocusing the inquiry on the McCanns and taking new
forensics at their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz.
A police source said: "There is a mantra British detectives use in big
investigations: clear the ground from under your feet.
"In this case it meant look at the apartment and the closest circle to
Madeleine - her family.
"They should have been the first people to be looked at properly, and
police had failed to do so.
"This case has been done back to front, but it is right that the parents
should be scrutinised properly."
Mr and Mrs McCann have continued to proclaim their innocence and it has now
emerged that lawyers acting for them travelled to Portugal last week in an effort to
have their "arguido" status removed.
Clarence Mitchell, a spokesman for the couple, said: "Kate and Gerry have
nothing to hide. Any evidence that is found here, or in Portugal, can
be wholly and innocently explained."
Meanwhile, in the latest blow to the police investigation, it was revealed that
the Portuguese detective who questioned Mrs McCann is being prosecuted for
allegedly torturing an innocent robbery suspect.
Tavares Almeida was the deputy head of the inquiry but recently asked to be
taken off the case on unpaid leave.
It has emerged that he is facing trial for allegedly inflicting a severe
beating on innocent man along with two other police officers.
The Portuguese daily newspaper Jornal de Noticias reported that 48-year-old
Almeida will face trial over allegations that seven years ago he beat up a
railway worker suspected of being part of a notorious gang who sexually
assaulted children in a park and coerced them into mugging people.
The suspect, who suffered four broken ribs and bruising to his throat, stomach
and back, was later acquitted of all charges at trial.
The Policia Judiciaria refused to comment on the allegations, as did the McCann
family's spokesman
Last week the chief co-ordinator of the inquiry, Goncalo Amaral, was removed
from the case after he said British police were being manipulated by
Madeleine's parents. |
