Cops' McCanns deadline

PORTUGUESE police rushed to name the McCanns as suspects to avoid new laws on evidence, it was claimed yesterday.

Cops had to put Kate and Gerry in the frame over the disappearance of daughter Maddie, four, before a stricter penal code was bought in, their lawyer suggested.

Had they waited just EIGHT days longer they would have had to produce strong evidence against the 39-year-olds.

It is possible the McCanns would have avoided months of vicious slurs against them, after being declared ‘arguidos’ – suspects – on September 7. McCann lawyer Carlos Pinto de Abreu said yesterday: “If this inquiry was launched now, maybe they would not have been made arguidos.”

A source close to the McCanns said: “This was a deliberate smear campaign.”

McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: “Being made arguidos caused them immense anguish. To think they may have been saved by a law introduced days later makes a mockery of the case.” (The Sun)