Portuguese police reopen Madeleine McCann probe

The parents of missing Madeleine McCann have said they hope a renewed investigation into their daughter’s disappearance could lead to her finally being found.

Kate and Gerry McCann said in a statement that they are “very pleased” that Portuguese authorities have decided to reopen the inquiry into the girl’s disappearance following the emergence of “new elements of evidence”, separate to lines of inquiry being explored by their British counterparts.

The Portuguese inquiry was shelved in 2008.

The couple said: “We are very pleased that the investigation to find our missing daughter, Madeleine, has been officially reopened in Portugal.

“We hope that this will finally lead to her being found and to the discovery of whoever is responsible for this crime.”

The Metropolitan Police said the Portuguese investigation was being re-started as a result of new lines of inquiry emerging from an internal review.

It will run alongside Scotland Yard’s ongoing investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance, which has uncovered new leads that were detailed by officers last week.

Portuguese police had originally shelved their investigation in 2008, the year after Madeleine vanished, but supported the British-run inquiry.

Detective chief inspector Andy Redwood, who is leading the Scotland Yard team, assistant commissioner Mark Rowley, and the McCanns met officers in Lisbon last week to be briefed on the Portuguese case.

The new Portuguese lines of inquiry are separate from those being chased by the Met.

Mr Rowley said: “The meeting was very positive, and we and the Policia Judiciara have a shared determination to do everything possible to discover what happened to Madeleine.

“Colleagues in Portugal fully shared with us the developments in their review, and the fact that they were taking the significant step of applying for the investigation to be formally reopened. This is a welcome development, but both sides of the investigation are at relatively early stages, with much work remaining to be done.”

Metropolitan Police commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe earlier this week defended the way Portuguese police handled the initial investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance.

She vanished from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in May 2007 as her parents dined in a nearby tapas restaurant.

Hogan-Howe said: “I think sometimes these things at the beginning can be very difficult to deal with, you don’t know exactly if the child has just wandered off. It can be very difficult to know if you’ve got a very serious crime.

“I’m sure for them that must have been a challenge. Anybody can go back after two, three, five, six years and say ‘why didn’t you do that’? That’s easy in hindsight.

“We don’t like it when it happens to the Met, and I’m certainly not going to do it to the Portuguese.”

Fresh appeals were made last week as part of the British investigation, with Mr Redwood appearing on television in Britain, Holland and Germany. An appeal is due to air on Irish television later this month.

Officers also said they would like to trace a number of fair-haired men who were seen near the apartment at the time, and are looking at a surge in burglaries in the area as well as bogus charity collectors.

Home Secretary Theresa May told the BBC News channel: “The police have been working very closely with the Portuguese police and I think they’ve been developing the evidence and the leads and possibilities of leads that we’ve seen coming forward recently.

“I hope it will enable a resolution of this terrible thing that happened to the McCann family.”