Madeleine McCann: Police investigation 'over'

Detectives have shut their files and referred the case to the public prosecutor for a final decision, local sources confirmed.

A lack of evidence has been cited as the reason for the case being shelved.

It means that Gerry and Kate McCann are likely to be cleared as suspects in their daughter's disappearance, along with British expatriate Robert Murat.

"The police have failed to find those responsible," the respected Portuguese paper Jornal de Noticias daily said.

Clarence Mitchell, the couple's official spokesman, said the McCanns were still waiting for official confirmation of the move.

"We are aware of it because we have heard about it on the grapevine," he said.

"The team haven't heard officially so we are not in a position to make any comment."

The McCanns' Portuguese lawyer, Carlos Pinto de Abreu, said the news would allow the couple to finally see what evidence, if any, police had that prompted the decision to make them suspects, or arguidos, in the case.

He pledged to study the case files "from the first to the last page" to find out.

He said: "I want to be in a position to do what the McCanns always wanted, which is to assure themselves the investigation was properly conducted and continue to look for their daughter."

But a source close to the case said they would be disappointed with the material.

"The police report barely outlines the conclusive and non-conclusive facts," he said.

"What this means is that it is not conclusive nor does it point in any particular direction - kidnap, murder or the concealment of Madeleine's body."

He said that, unless new evidence emerges, the investigation team will now be disbanded.

"Police will continue to be attentive to any new information that arises once the case has been archived as happens with other missing children," he said.

"But the Madeleine McCann case can only be reopened if an important piece of evidence comes to light."

Robert Murat's lawyer, Francisco Pagarete, said he was yet to be informed about the latest development.

"We haven't been contacted by anyone in the police for more than three months," he said.

The disappearance of the three-year-old from her parents' rented apartment in the Algarve holiday resort of Praia da Luz on May 3 last year sparked one of the biggest inquiries in the country's history.

In the months that followed, Kate and Gerry McCann, from Rothley in Leicestershire, launched a global campaign to find their missing daughter.

The pair faced condemnation from some quarters since they had left their sleeping children alone in the apartment while they dined in a nearby tapas restaurant with friends the night Madeleine vanished.

In a dramatic twist in September, Portuguese police switched the focus of their investigation onto the McCanns, making them official suspects along with Mr Murat.

Reports in the Portuguese press claimed that police had forensic evidence suggesting Madeleine died in the couple's apartment.

Madeleine's parents insisted their daughter had been abducted and hired a Spanish detective agency, Metodo 3, to investigate a series of sightings of the little girl as far afield as North Africa and South America.

According to local newspapers, police will announce the closing of the case in the next few days. The revelation comes just over a week after the McCanns said they would ask a High Court judge to order the release of Leicester Police documents about sightings of Madeleine so they could be investigated by Metodo 3.

In recent months the couple have become increasingly frustrated at the slow progress of the Portuguese investigation, and they suspect that many possible sightings of Madeleine have not been followed up at all.