Police call for Maddie case to be re-opened

Scotland Yard has urged Portuguese authorities to re-open the search for Madeleine McCann as detectives said there were 195 potential leads to finding her alive.

The detective leading the Metropolitan Police review said the case could still be solved as officers released a picture of what she might now look like as a nine-year-old.

Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood said he believed her disappearance was a stranger abduction, and said there were 195 “investigative opportunities”.

Police refused to say what evidence they had uncovered to suggest Madeleine was alive.

Mr Redwood confirmed that his team of more than 30 officers involved in the case had been out to Portugal seven times, including a visit to the family’s holiday flat in Praia da Luz.

It is nearly five years since the child went missing days before her fourth birthday as her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, dined with friends nearby.

A spokesman for the McCanns said the family were pleased with the image.

Mr Redwood said his 37 officers had dealt with 40,000 pieces of information but the “primacy still sits in Portugal” in the attempt to find her.

Commander Simon Foy said: “Most significantly, the message we want to bring to you is that, on the evidence, there is a possibility that she is alive and we desperately need your help today to appeal directly to the public for information to support our investigation.”

Mr Redwood said “evidence that she is alive stems from the forensic view of the timeline” that there was the opportunity for her to be taken.

Investigations show “there do appear to be gaps”, he added.

The investigative review was launched last year after a meeting between former Met commissioner Paul Stephenson and the Home Office.

Detectives in Portugal are also understood to want the case re-opened but must gain judicial approval via the courts.

Mr Redwood said: “So far, I have conducted seven visits to Portugal.

“Two of those visits have been at senior level, one of those visits was a visit to the actual resort itself and four of the other visits were directly face to face with the review team.”

Mr Redwood added: “We would like the case to be reopened, our case is clear... (But) I should stress quite clearly that the decision is in Portugal.”

He said this did not mean that his review of the case was toothless.

“What we are not doing is just passively passing through material. We are actively seeking to bring closure in this case.”

There is a “timeline of opportunities” indicating the little girl was taken “as a criminal act”, he added.

The new image was created in “close collaboration with the family” ahead of the fifth anniversary of her disappearance on May 3.

The review team has compiled and reviewed material from three separate strands — the Portuguese investigation, inquiries in Britain and the work of private investigators.

The information gathered totals about 100,000 pages.