PORTUGAL: As British couple Kate and Gerry McCann leave Portugal to return home to the UK, their spokeswoman says the couple played no part in the disappearance of their daughter, four-year-old Madeleine

As British couple Kate and Gerry McCann leave Portugal to return home to the UK, their spokeswoman says the couple played no part in the disappearance of their daughter, four-year-old Madeleine. The couple are leaving with the full agreement of the Portuguese authorities, the spokeswoman says. British couple Kate and Gerry McCann, named as suspects in their four-year-old daughter Madeleine's disappearance, headed home from Portugal on Sunday (September 9). The McCanns boarded a flight in Faro, on Portugal's Algarve coast, bound for East Midlands Airport in central England. A spokeswoman for the McCanns said the couple were not running away from the investigation but were leaving for the sake of their two-year-old twins, Sean and Amelie. Madeleine vanished from the resort of Praia da Luz resort on May 3. "They played no part in the disappearence of their beloved daughter. Their return is with the full agreement of the Portuguese authorities and the police," family spokeswoman Justine McGuiness said. English tourists at Faro ariport offered their support to the family. "How that lady feels flying home I could cry for her. It's terrible, it's absolutely terrible," Elizabeth Morgan, an English tourist from Lancashire, told Reuters. Portuguese police declared the McCanns formal suspects on Friday (September 7) after questioning them, but have so far filed no charges against them. Declaring the McCanns suspects indicates police believe they might have been involved in a crime but does not necessarily mean they would be detained. The couple's lawyer, Carlos Pinto de Abreu, said he had no idea how long the case would take to be concluded in a country that suffers from serious bureaucratic delays in its justice system. The Portuguese weekly Expresso on Saturday cited legal experts as saying it could take at least a year. Police changed their line of investigation this week after receiving results of forensic tests on evidence collected by Portuguese and British experts from various sites including the holiday apartment from which Madeleine vanished. Pictures of Madeleine have been posted across Europe at schools, airports and restaurants and the McCanns have met Pope Benedict, who blessed a picture of the child.

ITN Source | September 9, 2007

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