By: DAISY SAMPSON
daisy.sampson@the-resident.com
KATE AND Gerry McCann have vowed to continue the search for their missing daughter despite Portuguese authorities shelving the case after 14 months of investigation.
In a statement from the Public Prosecutor on Monday, July 21, the arguido status of Robert Murat and Gerry and Kate McCann was officially lifted and the case shelved unless new evidence presents itself. Parties with legitimate interest in the case will now have access to files regarding the investigations made by Portuguese police.
Lawyers for the McCanns now have three weeks to scrutinise the reports to find clues in the ongoing search for missing Madeleine.
Kate McCann read a brief statement to the press on Monday evening regarding the lifting of the arguido status and the shelving of the investigation into the disappearance of her daughter.
She said how she and her husband
 Robert Murat, Kate and Gerry McCann are no longer arguidos in the Madeleine McCann case. Photos: PORTUGAL IMAGES |  |
Gerry “welcomed the announcement by the Portuguese Attorney General”.
She added: “We look forward to scrutinising the police files to see what has actually been done, and more importantly, what can still be done, as we leave no stone unturned in the search for Madeleine.”
According to the BBC, who claim they have seen the final Portuguese police report into the disappearance of Madeleine, “police were obliged to make Mrs McCann a suspect on the merest possibility she had been in contact with a corpse”.
The BBC also say: “The document confirms
 | |
earlier media reports that a woman staying upstairs from the McCanns recalled hearing a child crying for over an hour in the family’s apartment, on the eve of Madeleine’s disappearance.”
When asked by Sky News if the McCanns intended to pursue legal action against the Portuguese authorities, family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: “It is a possibility and an option; this is a matter for them to decide in their own time and on the advice of their lawyers”.
The Portuguese lawyer for Robert Murat, Francisco Pagarete, told The Resident: “Robert says he is very happy his arguido status has been lifted and he will finally now be able to go back
 | |
to his life.”
“Robert is not in the Algarve at the moment but we expect him to return home next week sometime. Now Robert is no longer an arguido he will be making the most of being free to travel to wherever he wants to without restraint.”
Not happy
Meanwhile, Max Clifford, who had been offering his PR services free of charge to Robert Murat and his family, wrote a letter on Friday, July 18, to British PR publication PRWeek stating how he is “not happy” about Robert Murat paying another PR firm for services.
In the letter to the publication Max Clifford writes: “I spent a huge amount of time and effort over many months… to help them and stop the unjustifiable media onslaught. So you can imagine this week how I felt when Robert admitted to me he was paying a PR firm… I was not happy.”
Do you have a view on this story? Email: editor@the-resident.com
