Police launch new Madeleine McCann investigations

Scotland Yard announced on Thursday that 12 Britons are on a list of possible suspects in a new criminal inquiry into the case of missing Madeleine McCann.

The toddler vanished in Portugal’s Algarve region on May 3^rd 2007, just days before her fourth birthday, and detectives say it’s possible that Madeleine is still alive.

The Metropolitain Police said that their officers are working closely with Portuguese authorities in an unprecedented case involving British police forces probing a crime committed abroad.

Among the twelve British nationals believed to have been in Portugal when Madeleine went missing, none of them are currently living in the UK and none of the McCanns’ friends who were having dinner with them on that night are among the 38.

A spokesman for Madeleine’s parents said to the press: “Kate and Gerry warmly welcome the shift from review to investigation, it is clearly a big step forward in establishing what happened and, hopefully, towards bringing whoever is responsible for Madeleine’s abduction to justice.“

Andy Redwood, the detective chief inspector who is leading the probe, confirmed that this new investigation put the police in a “unique position” to solve the case. This reopening of Madeleine’s case has allowed British officers to look at material from the Portuguese investigation, UK law enforcement agencies and several private agencies.

“That has given us the ability to see this case with fresh eyes, and through that bring out new, genuinely new, lines of inquiry. And I’m hopeful when we pursue those lines of inquiry that we will be able to bring some sort of resolution,” Redwood said.

Detectives asked the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to submit a formal request to the Portuguese authorities for assistance in the inquiry, because under their law they are unable to reopen the enquiry unless there is new compelling evidence.

However, Scotland Yard strongly believes that leads from the new inquiry could generate not only new evidence but also perhaps the solving of the case.

This new investigation raises also another interesting possibility of a trial in the UK if a suspect with a British passport is identified and arrested.

Annalisa Ratti