McCanns and Murat formally cleared in case of missing Madeleine Kate and Gerry McCann at a press conference after being cleared of being formal suspects in the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine
Kate and Gerry McCann at a press conference after being cleared of being formal suspects in the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine. Photograph: Matthew Lewis/Getty Images
Kate and Gerry McCann were today formally cleared by the Portuguese authorities of involvement in their daughter Madeleine's disappearance.
Portugal's attorney general, Fernando José Pinto Monteiro, said there was insufficient evidence to continue the police case.
Pinto Monteiro was faced with choosing between bringing charges in connection with Madeleine's disappearance, closing the case or asking the police to continue investigating.
More than 14 months after Madeleine went missing, he said the McCanns, both 40, from Rothley, Leicestershire, were no longer "arguidos" or formal suspects.
The couple welcomed prosecutors' decision to lift their status as formal suspects, but said they had no cause for celebration.
Her voice breaking with emotion, Mrs McCann said: "It is hard to describe how utterly despairing it was to be named arguidos and subsequently portrayed in the media as suspects in our own daughter's abduction.
"It has been equally devastating to witness the detrimental effect this status has had on the search for Madeleine."
Earlier, the couple's spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said the attorney general's statement appeared to hold "no surprises". He added that their lawyer would be able to examine the police files on Madeleine's disappearance by the end of the week.
"There is a degree of relief but no air of celebration whatsoever," he said. "They should never have been arguidos [formal suspects]. The fact that they have emerged from this without being charged proves that."
The third formal suspect in the case, Algarve property consultant Robert Murat, 34, also had his "arguido" status lifted.
He received £600,000 in libel damages from four newspaper groups last week over "seriously defamatory" articles.
Murat and the McCanns had all strenuously denied any involvement in Madeleine's disappearance.
Detectives handed over their lengthy final report at the start of this month to prosecutors.
The investigation could still be re-opened if new evidence came to light, Pinto Monteiro said.
The McCanns have their own private investigators, Barcelona-based Metodo 3, continuing the search for their daughter.
They believe Madeleine was abducted and is still alive.
"Madeleine is a beautiful little person. She was a very happy and much loved little girl. We believe there is a very good chance that Madeleine is still alive," they say on their website.
British police travelled to Portugal last week to meet the public prosecutor in the case.
Leicestershire officers held discussions about how evidence would be disclosed at the end of the investigation.
A Portuguese newspaper reported that the British officers tried to stop certain information - including results of a DNA test on a sample from the McCanns' hire car - from being made public.
The request was denied by the public prosecutor, Jose Cunha de Magalhaes e Meneses, at a meeting in the Algarve town of Portimao on Thursday, according to the Correio da Manha newspaper.
A police spokeswoman refused to comment.
Madeleine was nearly four when she vanished from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz as her parents dined in a tapas restaurant with friends nearby.
Despite a huge police investigation and massive coverage in the Portuguese and British media, she has not been found.
guardian
