Madeleine files to be handed to judge

A Portuguese prosecutor is to hand over a file outlining the case against the parents of missing Madeleine McCann to a judge, a spokesman has said.Speaking outside the prosecutor's office in Portimao, Luisa Duarte said Portuguese public prosecutor, Jose Cunha de Magalhaes e Meneses had received the papers and decided they should go before an instructional judge.A Portuguese lawyer said this might mean that the prosecutor wants to impose stricter bail conditions or to carry out fresh searches or more interviews.It is also possible that he is recommending charges, although this would be unusual, Artur Rego said.The McCanns were declared official suspects by detectives in the case last week. Family friends have said the couple, from Rothley, Leicestershire, fear they could face charges over her disappearance.The papers include forensic results of evidence taken from various sites in the Praia da Luz resort where Madeleine vanished and details of police interviews with the McCanns.Relatives have said the couple would both return to Portugal if required by police.The forensic evidence may clear up whether Madeleine's DNA was found in a car hired by the McCanns after she disappeared.Alipio Ribeiro, head of the judicial police investigating the case, said that evidence was not conclusive. He said: "Various analyses were received but none of those tests are that exact, (giving 100 per cent certainty) so in other words we cannot say that blood belongs to A or B."Madeleine's parents left Portugal for the UK on Sunday after they became suspects in her disappearance on May 3 from a hotel room in an Algarve resort while they were dining nearby. They have denied any involvement.Kate McCann told a Sunday newspaper that Portuguese detectives pressured her to confess to having accidentally killed her daughter."They want me to lie. I am being framed," she was quoted as saying.The couple are at home in the village of Rothley, Leicestershire, with crowds of journalists camped outside.Mr McCann has described the last few days as 'unbearable'. In his blog on the website www.findmadeleine.com, he said the past few days had been "unbelievably stressful and emotionally draining".He wrote: "We could never possibly have imagined being put in this unbearable situation. No specific charges have been presented at this point and there has been no restriction on our movements imposed."Despite the anguish and extreme distress this has caused all of our family, 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."About the family's return to their home in Rothley, he wrote: "We always hoped that we would not have to return without Madeleine and could never have imagined the possibility that we would do so as suspects in our own daughter's disappearance."The pain and turmoil we have experienced in this last week is totally beyond description."Kate and I are totally 100 per cent confident in each other's innocence and our family and friends have rallied round unflinchingly to support us."After their daughter's disappearance, the McCanns launched a high-profile publicity campaign across Europe to try to find her. Police have said they believed the little girl is dead.© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.

ITN | September 11, 2007

Tags:. .rego. .meneses. .cunha. .instructional. .leicestershire