UK/PORTUGAL: Spokesman says ludicrous to suggest McCanns guilty, as Portugues authorities decide to start public briefings on the case

Clarence Mitchell, the new spokesman for the parents of missing four-year-old Madeleine McCann said on Tuesday (September 18) it was ludicrous to suggest they were guilty of harming her. British couple Gerry and Kate McCann are trying to clear their names after Portuguese police named them as formal suspects in the disappearance of their daughter four months ago. Since their return to England on September 9, the McCanns have faced intense media speculation about their role in the case. Mitchell addressed the media on Tuesday in front of McCann's house in Rothley, Leicesterhire. He said that during the time he spent with the couple in Portugal while representing the Foreign and Commonwealth Office between May and June, he saw or heard nothing that gave him a cause of concern. "To suggest that they somehow harmed Madeleine, accidentally or otherwise, is as ludicrous as it is nonsensical. Indeed, it would be laughable if it was not so serious," said Mitchell, who resigned his government job to represent the McCanns. The couple have denied any involvement in their daughter's disappearance on holiday in southern Portugal on May 3 and say they are convinced she is still alive. Mitchell also said that Kate and Gerry would like to appeal to the media to stop using the images of McCanns' younger children, two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie, and leave them to resume their life in privacy. Madeleine's brother and sister, Sean and Amelie, were brought back here to England to resume in privacy, as much as it's possible under the circumstances, a normal life. Kate and Gerry again urge everyone in the media not to use their image in your coverage from now on as the privacy of infants must surely remain paramount," he said. Portuguese authorities, who have been criticised for not providing enough information about the case, said on Tuesday they had decided to brief the public from time to time. The briefings will take place through Portugal's Superior Magistrates' Council -- which supervises the judge overlooking the Madeleine case -- but only when necessary and in accordance to the country's strict "secrecy of justice" law. The move came after the judge examining the Madeleine case, Pedro Miguel Frias, made an unprecedented appeal to speak publicly about the investigation. Television images showed judge Frias at midday on Tuesday leaving the Prosecutor's building in Portimao without making any statements. Portugal's public prosecutor passed the case against the McCanns last week to a criminal judge who is expected to decide on a series of requests by the public prosecutor that would allow police to dig deeper into Madeleine's disappearance. In Portugal, tourists and locals have followed the new dvelopments closely. "This is the biggest hunt for a lost child there has ever been, with the Pope involved and everybody involved. I really can't think that if they were guilty they'd have gone to those lengths," said a British tourist after watching Mitchell's statement on television. "If the press decides they are guilty, they will be guilty and that's how we felt about it, it is very sad. Why don't they just let justice to take its course rather than crucifying them in the press," said Bob, an Australian expat who lives in Praia da Luz. The McCanns, both 39-year-old doctors, have hired lawyers in Portugal and England to defend them in case they are charged.

ITN Source | September 18, 2007

Tags:. .everybody. .criminal. .coverage. .alive. .tourists