McCann files to be passed to judge

Files outlining the missing Madeleine McCann case are to be passed from Portuguese prosecutors to a judge, it has been announced.

The parents of four-year-old Madeleine, Kate and Gerry McCann, are now waiting to hear whether any action will be taken against them.

Both have been given 'arguido' status, which means they have been formally named as suspects in the Madeleine investigation.

Jose Cunha de Magalhaes e Meneses, an Algarve-based prosecutor, received the files from police and decided that they should go before a judge, an assistant in his office told reporters waiting outside his office.

Kate and Gerry returned home this weekend with their two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie amid media reports that Madeleine's DNA has been found in a car hired by the McCanns 25 days after she disappeared more than four months ago.

Police in Portugal have downplayed reports that the forensic evidence links Madeleine's parents to her disappearance.

The head of Portugal's Policia Judiciaria said in a rare live televised debate that detectives could not say "with certainty" that the blood belonged to the four-year-old, who has not been seen since going missing from her parents' holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in the Algarve on May 3rd.

Unconfirmed reports have suggested that detectives believe Mrs McCann accidentally killed her daughter and the couple then covered up her death.

But Alipio Ribeiro, head of Portugal's judicial police, said: "We can't say with certainty whether it was the blood of person A or person B.

"[The forensic tests] help guide us in our investigation but not with the mathematical precision some people are saying."

Writing on his blog on campaign website findmadeleine.com after a four-day break, Mr McCann reiterated that he and his wife had played no part in their daughter's abduction.

He said the last few days had been "unbelievably stressful and emotionally draining" since being named as a formal suspect.

But he went on to say: "Despite the anguish and extreme distress this has caused all of our family; [in the] long-term no one will be able to doubt how intensely Kate and I have been scrutinised.

"We have absolute confidence that, when all of the facts are presented together, we will be able to demonstrate that we played absolutely no part in Madeleine's abduction. Our primary concern has always been the search for Madeleine and this aspect – that our daughter is still missing, must remain a priority for the investigation," Mr McCann continued.

"The sooner this is done the sooner we can concentrate fully on trying to find Madeleine, which is the most important thing through this unending nightmare."