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Madeleine may be dead, police say | Madeleine may be dead, police say |
(10 minutes later) | |
Police in Portugal have acknowledged for the first time that missing Madeleine McCann may be dead. | Police in Portugal have acknowledged for the first time that missing Madeleine McCann may be dead. |
Speaking to the BBC, one of the detectives leading the investigation said new evidence had given "intensity" to the possibility she was killed. | Speaking to the BBC, one of the detectives leading the investigation said new evidence had given "intensity" to the possibility she was killed. |
Chief Inspector Olegario Sousa said Kate and Gerry McCann were not being considered as suspects following recent rumours they were under suspicion. | Chief Inspector Olegario Sousa said Kate and Gerry McCann were not being considered as suspects following recent rumours they were under suspicion. |
Madeleine vanished 100 days ago in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz. | Madeleine vanished 100 days ago in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz. |
Forensic scientists | |
Mr Sousa said renewed searches by detectives with British sniffer dogs have revealed clues which could point to Madeleine's death. | |
He was referring to suspected traces of blood found inside the apartment room where Madeleine was sleeping, which are now being analysed by forensic scientists in Britain. | He was referring to suspected traces of blood found inside the apartment room where Madeleine was sleeping, which are now being analysed by forensic scientists in Britain. |
Mr Sousa refused to confirm or deny reports in Portuguese newspapers that the sniffer dogs had detected odours of a dead body in the apartment. | |
The police spokesman made it clear that other lines of inquiry have not been ruled out. | |
He said Kate and Gerry McCann and their friends who had been on holiday with them were not being treated as suspects. | |
And he said witnesses might be interviewed again depending on the results of the forensic tests. | |
The four-year-old disappeared from the apartment room at the Praia da Luz resort on 3 May while her parents were eating with friends at a nearby restaurant. |