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The parents of Madeleine McCann have said they are deeply upset that Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf printed claims their daughter was buried in scrubland before Portuguese police had even had a chance to investigate



Gerry McCann said the Policia Judiciara had no time to consider the credibility of the information or consider searching the area before the allegations were made public.

In his blog on the Find Madeleine website he wrote: "We feel strongly that this was an irresponsible piece of journalism and even if it were true is insensitive and cruel."

He went on: "One can imagine how upsetting it is for Kate and I to hear of such claims."

Police and journalists were earlier spotted combing through an area where it is claimed the missing girl's body may be buried.

The location, which is nine miles from where the four-year-old disappeared, was pinpointed in a letter sent to a newspaper and passed on to Portuguese police.

Sniffer dogs have been brought in as the Policia Judiciaria consider whether to launch a full-scale search.

Police have alerted journalists to the fact that they may be "contaminating" the region, destroying eventual evidence and clues.

But Clarence Mitchell, speaking on behalf of the girl's family, said: "There is no suggestion that this letter is any more credible than any other source and the McCanns are not planning to say anything about it."



Sky News crime correspondent Martin Brunt said the parents were very upset at reports of diggers moving in.

The anonymous note is believed to have come from the same person who sent a letter leading police to the bodies of two murdered Belgian girls last year.

It claimed Madeleine's body lies buried under rocks and branches in deserted scrubland and was sent with a map marking the location with a cross.

It is thought to have directed police up a dirt track to an area north of Odiaxere, north east of Praia da Luz from where the girl was snatched 42 days ago.

According to De Telegraaf, the letter said Madeleine was buried "north of the road under branches and rocks, around six to seven metres off the road" in a barren and deserted landscape.

On Wednesday, around eight plain clothed police officers visited Arao, a small village 15kms away from Praia da Luz.

They spent an hour and 20 minutes looking at fields and the surrounding area ahead of possible searches.

from : skynews

Search for Madeleine reaches Malta after reported sightings

London - Police in Malta have launched a massive hunt for missing British toddler Madeleine McCann after tourists on the island reported five sightings of the four-year-old girl, British press reports said Friday.

Madeleine disappeared 50 days ago from a holiday apartment her parents had rented in the resort of Praia da Luz, on the Algarve in southern Portugal.

To mark the 50th day of her disappearance Friday, her parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, will release 50 balloons imprinted with Madeleine's image on the beach in Praia da Luz.

Press reports in Britain said Friday that police in Malta were taking the sightings seriously.

One was of an Arabic-looking man heard speaking to a little girl in English, and another said blonde Madeleine had been spotted with a black wig.

Airport and harbour officials on the island were on high alert, and every policeman on Malta had been issued with a photograph of Madeleine, the Sun newspaper reported.

Deutsche Presse-Agentur

UK press pounces on McCanns as suspects

From correspondents in London
September 07, 2007 07:41pm

BRITISH newspapers have pounced on fears held by the parents of missing toddler Madeleine McCann that they will be branded suspects by Portuguese police investigating their daughter's disappearance.

For months Kate and Gerry McCann have been splashed across the British press as courageous parents desperately searching for their missing four-year-old daughter.

But now the couple are attracting the type of headlines they always dreaded – ones branding them suspects in Madeleine's mystery disappearance in southern Portugal four months ago.

“Suspects” screamed the front page headline above separate headshots of Kate McCann and her husband in the mass selling tabloid, the Daily Mirror.

The Sun tabloid posed the question: “Did you Sedate Maddie?”, with a report claiming that police had grilled Kate McCann about whether she drugged her daughter the night she vanished from the family's Algarve holiday apartment in Praia de Luz in May.

Portuguese police are expected to formally declare the mother an official suspect later today after receiving forensic evidence from the apartment.

But some British papers today voiced the couple's terrifying fear that they were being set up to take the blame for Madeleine disappearance.

The Daily Mail had a page one picture of a downcast Kate McCann alongside the headline: “They're trying to set me up.”

The Daily Express, which has featured the McCanns' plight on its front page nearly every day since Madeleine disappeared, took a similarly sympathetic line with: “Worried Kate fears she is being set up.”

So far, the McCanns have been treated as witnesses in the case and have received widespread sympathy from the British press and public since Madeleine disappeared.

But family spokesman David Hughes today said police had told Kate McCann that she would be named as a suspect when she fronts for another round of questioning this afternoon.

The Portuguese press has taken a different approach, with many airing suspicions about the couple and focusing on how police had been asking probing questions about them.

Late last month, the McCanns said they would sue a Portuguese newspaper over an article which alleged police believed they were to blame for the toddler's death.

The couple said they were “deeply hurt” by the front page story in the weekly Tal & Qual, which claimed detectives believed the McCanns accidentally killed Madeleine with an overdose of sedatives.

“This statement is without truth or evidence,” the McCanns said in a statement at the time.

Madeleine vanished from the holiday apartment, where she was sleeping with her two-year-old twin siblings.

Her parents said they were dining with friends in the hotel's restaurant at the time.

The McCanns have stayed in Portugal since Madeleine vanished and launched an international campaign to find her.

News Limited

Both Madeleine parents now suspects

1 hour ago

Both the parents of missing Madeleine McCann have been declared formal suspects in her disappearance.

Kate McCann was named an "arguida" on Friday morning before undergoing questioning during which she was asked if she accidentally killed her daughter.

Her husband Gerry was also given the legal status of a suspect during questioning on Friday night.

Gerry McCann left a Portuguese police station early on Saturday after being quizzed by detectives amid fears his wife will be charged with killing their daughter.

He walked out of the regional headquarters of the Policia Judiciaria - Portugal's CID - at 12.10am after undergoing nearly eight hours of questioning.

Earlier his wife Kate endured being asked directly by detectives whether she accidentally killed Madeleine.

Mrs McCann has been warned by her lawyer that she could be charged over her daughter's death.

During her questioning, detectives suggested that traces of Madeleine's DNA were found in the family's hire car, a silver Renault Scenic that they are still using but did not lease the vehicle until 25 days after her daughter disappeared.

Portuguese detectives appear to be working on the theory that Mrs McCann killed her daughter by accident and covered up the death by claiming she was abducted.

Mr McCann's alleged role is not clear, but sources said police believe he was an accessory to the killing.

ukpress