Madeleine file to stay secret 'for some time'

The secret file detailing the Portuguese police investigation into Madeleine McCann’s disappearance is unlikely to be made public “for some time”, a lawyer for the girl’s parents said today.

It is understood the dossier could have been published today under new Portuguese secrecy laws that can see court files reopened eight months after the start of an inquiry.

Madeleine vanished from her family’s Praia da Luz holiday apartment on May 3 last year.

Lawyers acting on behalf of the formal suspects in the investigation – the girl’s parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, and British expat Robert Murat – said the court file would not be made public today.

It is understood prosecutors need more time to make their case.

The publication of such a document can coincide with decisions on whether to prosecute suspects in an investigation, and today’s legal milestone produced fresh speculation about the inquiry.

According to Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manha, detectives in the Algarve produced an interim report to coincide with the eight-month mark.

The report is said to name Mr and Mrs McCann, from Leicestershire in England, as prime suspects in their daughter’s disappearance. But it is also said to include the possibility Madeleine, aged three at the time, was abducted.

The report was dismissed by the McCanns’ advisers today as “pure speculation”.

Edward Smethurst, the lawyer conducting the McCanns’ defence, said: “We have received no information to suggest that the court file is going to be opened today and indeed we believe it’s likely that it will be some time before the court file is made available.”

Referring to media coverage of the police dossier, he added: “Any report about the leaked document we believe is completely without substance. We think it arises out of pure speculation on the part of the Portuguese press.”

The McCanns’ spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said: “If this interim police report exists it appears to say nothing new. It apparently maintains the position that Kate and Gerry remain arguidos. I also note that it says the exact same thing about Mr Murat.

“More importantly it says that abduction is a possibility as well, as we have maintained all along. All we will say is that this appears to be nothing new and the police appear to be restating their current position.

“We hope that once the police realise there is no case against Kate and Gerry that they will lift their arguido status.”

Mr Murat’s lawyer, Francisco Pagarete, said he had not received notification today of the court file’s publication.

He said: “I have had no letter from the public prosecutor. I don’t know if they are going to ask for a postponement of the secrecy law or not.

“When the prosecutor arrives at a decision, he writes it down and sends me a letter telling me of the decision. The postman has been and left me no letter.”