PORTUGAL'S top policeman has said detectives were "hasty" in making Madeleine McCann's parents suspects in her disappearance.
Kate and Gerry McCann were named as "arguidos" – or formal suspects – four months after their daughter vanished from their holiday flat in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz.
Alipio Ribeiro, national director of the Policia Judiciaria (PJ), has re
vealed he believes there "perhaps should have been another assessment" before this happened.
The PJ – Portugal's CID – is leading the investigation into what happened to Madeleine on the night of May 3. In an interview with Portugal's Radio Renascenca, to be broadcast today, Ribeiro stressed he did not give his officers orders about who should be named an arguido. But he said there was a "certain hastiness" in making the McCanns suspects.
The couple's spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, welcomed the senior officer's comments and called for them to be formally cleared. He said: "Now that the national director of the Policia Judiciaria apparently accepts that they should not have been made arguidos, it follows that there is no case for Kate and Gerry to answer.
"As I have consistently said, Kate and Gerry are entirely innocent of any involvement in the disappearance of Madeleine. Now, in the light of Mr Ribeiro's remarks, we urge the Portuguese judicial authorities to act humanely by removing their arguido status as swiftly as possible.
"Not only does it continue to damage their reputation in the eyes of the world, it is also directly hampering the search for Madeleine, as many people who may have vital information have possibly not been coming forward because they have wrongly suspected the McCanns.
"If the Portuguese police, under Mr Ribeiro, now do the only proper thing by eliminating Kate and Gerry from their inquiry, they and our own investigators can work together rapidly and effectively to find Madeleine and to bring those responsible for her abduction to justice."
The McCanns spent yesterday at home in Rothley, Leicestershire, hosting a gathering of family friends to mark the birthday of their other two children. The couple also threw a tea party for twins Sean and Amelie when they turned three yesterday.
In his latest internet blog entry, Mr McCann wrote: "We hope and pray that they will never have another birthday without Madeleine here.
There is no doubt that Sean and Amelie have made life for all of us a little more bearable over the last nine months."
The McCanns' official Find Madeleine website was also relaunched overnight after a £2,500 revamp.
The full article contains 426 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
