Forensic evidence is not strong enough to charge Kate and Gerry McCann in connection with their missing daughter Madeleine, it emerged today.
A team of senior Portuguese police and forensic experts spent all day discussing the DNA results gleaned by their British counterparts, but are understood to have decided they are inconclusive.
Last night, as it was confirmed by the Forensic Science Service that their tests remain "ongoing", the McCanns' legal team called on the Portuguese police to lift the couple's status as official suspects.
The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "Enough is enough. There can be nothing that incriminates Kate and Gerry, because they are innocent. We are hopeful this meeting will help speed up the process eliminating Kate and Gerry from the inquiry. They just want the injustice of being suspects to end and the real job of finding Madeleine to resume in earnest. We are hopeful common sense will prevail and that Portuguese police will see Kate and Gerry have no case to answer. Forensic evidence – if there is any – is inconclusive or explicable, so they should be eliminated from the inquiry."
The four-strong Portuguese team met five experts from the FSS at Leicestershire Police headquarters yesterday to review and interpret the DNA results. The FSS has been conducting the tests for the Portuguese authorities at its base in Birmingham for the last four months.
Tests are said to have been conducted on blood samples, bodily fluids and hair found inthe Mrs McCanns' holiday apartment in Praia da Luz and in the car the couple hired 25 days after Madeleine disappeared on May 3. (Daily Mail)