Portuguese police have reopened the inquiry into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, according to an announcement by the Public Prosecutor’s office.
A press statement revealed that “new elements of evidence” which were presented by the PJ police justified the “continuation of the investigation”. The case had been closed by Portuguese police in 2008 – a year after Madeleine McCann disappeared from the tourist complex in Praia da Luz where her family was spending their vacation.
A representative of the McCann family said that “Kate and Gerry (Madeleine’s parents) do not want to arouse too many expectations” but they believe that the reopening of the case is a “significant development and a very important step” forward.
Media reports are stating that the request to reopen the case was made by PJ police as a result of a two-year-long investigation led by a team of detectives from Porto. It is reported that the squad of four investigators identified witnesses who had never been queried when the case was still open, and that they travelled to the Algarve on several occasions to gather evidence and carry out informal interrogations.
It is also said that the only way that these investigations could be conducted ‘on the record’ would be if the inquiry was reopened and that the police’s leads are, as British police suspect as well, based around the theory of a kidnapping.
Investigations will now recommence in Portugal, after only little more than a week ago Scotland Yard presented their new reconstruction of the night of the disappearance on BBC1’s ‘Crimewatch’ TV show and released digital facial composites of a main suspect believed to be linked to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, and two others of men sighted close to the McCann apartment on the day of her disappearance.
