POLICE IN Portugal have acknowledged for the first time that Madeleine McCann may be dead.
The detective leading the investigation told the BBC that 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.
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.
Mr Sousa refused to confirm or deny reports in Portuguese newspapers that the sniffer dogs had detected odours of a dead body that had been 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.
Mr Sousa spoke after Kate and Gerry McCann attended a church service marking 100 days since Madeleine’s disappearance.
The church of Nossa Senhora da Luz was packed with holidaymakers and locals.
Kate McCann asked the congregation to “stay with” her and her family as they continued their “journey of hope” and to keep Madeleine in their prayers.
When the couple came out of the church they were greeted by loud applause.
There are also prayers and pledges of support on Saturday by sports stars, including England rugby star Jonny Wilkinson, jockey Frankie Dettori and Everton Football Club.
Teams in the Premiership have been wearing T-shirts with Madeleine’s image during their pre-match warm ups.
Among the international events is a Mass being held in the pilgrimage town of Lourdes, France.
And a lone piper played a specially written lament for the missing girl at an international bagpipe event in Glasgow.
