Portuguese police end Madeleine investigation

Portuguese police have ended their investigation into the disappearance of British girl Madeleine McCann without finding sufficient evidence to charge anybody in the case, local media reported yesterday.

Madeleine disappeared from her bedroom in a quiet Algarve resort on May 3 last year during a family holiday, a few days before her fourth birthday.

"The police do not comment on criminal cases that are governed by secrecy laws," a police spokesperson said.

If the police were to recommend the case to be shut, it would be up to the public prosecutors to make a final decision.

Dailies Jornal de Noticias and Correio de Manha reported that the case had been closed. "We don't know anything official yet, we've heard nothing," Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for Kate and Gerry McCann, Madeleine's parents, told BBC television yesterday.

Citing unnamed police sources, Jornal de Noticias said the case report had been closed and only included details of the investigation without making any conclusions. Police had not decided whether Madeleine had been kidnapped or killed, the paper said.