Portugal's public prosecutor yesterday passed the case against the parents of missing four-year-old Madeleine McCann to a criminal judge who will decide whether there are grounds for a trial.

Kate and Gerry McCann were declared suspects in the case last week but were allowed to leave for England on Sunday.

"The case was submitted to the criminal judge who will decide on it at an opportune moment," a spokesman at the prosecutor's office in the Algarve town of Portimao said in a televised statement.

The judge can decide there is enough evidence for a trial or reject the case for having insufficient evidence.

The spokesman gave no details of the evidence or what accusations the McCanns might face in the case involving their daughter's disappearance from a hotel room in an Algarve resort on May3 .

But the prosecutor's office said that the next steps in the continuing investigation, would be decided within 10 days including any possible new measures against the McCanns.

The couple are now at home in the village of Rothley, Leicestershire, with crowds of journalists camped outside.

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