McCann evidence sent to judge

The evidence against missing Madeleine McCann’s parents was today passed to a Portuguese judge – who could in theory bring charges against them within days.

Jose Cunha de Magalhaes e Meneses, a public prosecutor based in Portimao in the Algarve, ruled that police files should go before a criminal instructional judge.

This could mean that the prosecutor is recommending charging Kate and Gerry McCann over their daughter’s disappearance, although a Portuguese lawyer said this would be unusual.

“It wouldn’t be normal unless he had already prepared the case,” Artur Rego said.

It is more likely that Mr Cunha de Magalhaes e Meneses wants to carry out fresh searches, conduct more interviews, or impose stricter bail conditions.

The judge has 10 days to decide whether to agree to the prosecutor’s request.

In another development, the Portuguese attorney general, Fernando Jose Pinto Monterio, announced tonight that he was appointing a second public prosecutor to the case, Portugal’s Lusa news agency reported.

Luis Bilro Verao, from the Evora district in central Portugal, will work with Mr Cunha de Magalhaes e Meneses.

Mr and Mrs McCann were declared “arguidos”, or formal suspects, in the case during police questioning in Portimao on Friday.

At present they are only subject to the minimum TIR – “term of identity and residence” – restrictions.

These are automatically applied to an arguido under Portuguese law, and require them to give police their address and notify officers if they are away from home for more than five days.

This is why the McCanns were able to return to Rothley, Leicestershire, with their two-year-old twins, Sean and Amelie, on Sunday.

If the prosecutor wanted to bring charges, he would have to produce a formal report for the judge laying out the accusation, the evidence and the motive, Mr Rego said.

The judge would then decide within 10 days whether there is enough evidence for the case to proceed.

Mr McCann’s sister, Philomena McCann, said the handing of the files to the judge changed nothing as far as her family was concerned.

“That was expected – it doesn’t change a thing,” she said.

“We will have to wait and see if they are bringing charges or not.”

Ms McCann, based in Ullapool, north-west Scotland, added: “If they bring charges against Kate and Gerry that will give them a chance to clear their name.

“It will give us a chance to end all this speculation.”

The file on the case runs to over 1,000 pages, police spokesman Chief Inspector Olegario Sousa said.

Intense attention focused today on what exactly Portuguese police found in the hire car rented by Madeleine parents 25 days after she went missing.

Detectives denied reports that forensic tests on a sample taken from the vehicle, a silver Renault Scenic, had revealed a “100% match” with the missing girl’s DNA.

Mr Sousa said: “That’s not true. Even specialists have said there is no 100% in anything.”

But senior sources linked to the investigation told Portuguese journalists they discovered “bodily fluids” – not blood – with an 88% match to Madeleine’s genetic profile in the car’s boot.

Kate and Gerry McCann, both 39, spent their second full day back in Britain at home with the twins.