Madeleine McCann inquiry reopened by Portuguese police

Kate and Gerry McCann said developments in the last few weeks gave them hope their missing daughter would be found. Photograph: Sang Tan/AP

Portugese police, who once falsely treated the parents of Madelaine McCann as suspects in her disapearance, have reopened their investigation after discovering new lines of inquiry.

The fresh Portugese investigation will run in parallel with the Scotland Yard inquiry that produced an efit of a man detectives want to identify and question, and who is yet to come forward.

British police say the Portugese lines of inquiry are seperate, at this stage, to the ones developed by the Yard's investigation.

Kate and Gerry McCann said the developments gave them hope their missing daughter will be found and that those who abducted her will be hunted down.

Madeleine, then aged three, disappeared six years ago during a family holiday in Praia da Luz, southern Portugal, whose police force shelved the case five years ago.

A review by a new team of Portugese detectives led officials to decide to launch the latest investigation.

In a statement the McCanns said: "We are very pleased that the investigation to find our missing daughter Madeleine has been officially reopened in Portugal.

"We hope that this will finally lead to her being found and to the discovery of whoever is responsible for this crime. Please be patient and respect the work of the police as they endeavour to find the answers we so desperately need."

Last week Metropolitan police officers flew to Portugal to be briefed on the latest developments from the Portugese police. The McCanns were briefed at the end of the meeting in Lisbon.

The Met described the developments as "significant" and said detectives from Operation Grange, the UK-led hunt for Madeleine, will now travel regularly to Portugal to liase with detectives.

Mark Rowley, a Met assistant commissioner, said: "The meeting was very positive, and we and the policia judiciara [Portuguese police] have a shared determination to do everything possible to discover what happened to Madeleine.

"Colleagues in Portugal fully shared with us the developments in their review, and the fact that they were taking the significant step of applying for the investigation to be formally reopened.

"This is a welcome development, but both sides of the investigation are at relatively early stages, with much work remaining to be done."


The head of the British investigation, Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, made fresh television appeals last week in the United Kingdom, Holland and Germany. Another appeal will be screened on Irish television later this month.
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