Madeleine police 'to clear McCanns but admit case will be never be solved'

Portugal's most senior policeman is set to "drop" the nine-month case without accusing any of the named suspects or solving the mystery surrounding Madeleine's disappearance, it was reported.

Sources said comments by Alipio Ribeiro, the head of the Policia Judiciaria, showed he was preparing an "exit strategy" to allow the investigation to be filed.

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He caused uproar last weekend when he said his officers had rushed the decision to name Kate and Gerry McCann as suspects, and that they should have re-evaluated the evidence against the couple first.

Critics accused him of having "killed" the investigation and he later apologised privately to the detectives leading the high-profile inquiry.

But yesterday senior officers said they believed he could have been testing public opinion in Portugal, to see if the time was right to shelve the case, which has been dogged with problems.

One high-ranking official told the Portuguese newspaper Diario de Noticias: "He has dropped the case."

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The newspaper reported: "In admitting there was haste in making the McCanns arguidos, the national director is preparing public opinion for the possibility of no charges being brought, because of a lack of evidence."

Filing the case would be an embarrassing public climbdown for Mr Ribeiro, who sent his most trusted deputy Paulo Rebelo to take control of the investigation in November.

But police have failed to find conclusive forensic evidence or any compelling witness statements to support their theory that Madeleine died in her parents' holiday apartment in Praia da Luz and that the couple then hid her body and faked her abduction.

The McCanns' legal team, which includes some of Britain and Portugal's most influential lawyers, has seized on Mr Ribeiro's comments and has repeated calls for the couple to be cleared as suspects.

Their spokesman Clarence Mitchell said they wanted the Attorney General in Lisbon to review the case within days.

But under Portuguese law the case could be filed with them remaining as named arguidos, and without being formally cleared they would still have to live under the cloud of suspicion.

Mr Mitchell said: "We don't want the case to be archived in any way. We still believe Madeleine could be alive, so the police must keep an operational inquiry going, looking for a missing person.

"Of course we want Gerry and Kate to be cleared as suspects, but we do not want the police to stop looking for Madeleine.

"We will never give up the search for her."

It is not the first time Mr Ribeiro has suggested that the case could go unsolved.

In November he said: "I don't know if there will be arrests in the Madeleine case."

He has repeatedly denied claims that he is under pressure from Britain to drop the case against the McCanns, both 39-year-old doctors from Rothley, Leicestershire.

The idea of filing the case was first raised by Portuguese police last August - two weeks before the couple were named as formal suspects.

The investigation's then spokesman, Olegario Sousa, said: "Naturally if we do not have any definite culprit or culprits, the case will be sent to the archive. "If at any time new and important facts come to light, the investigation could be re-opened."

The McCanns have always denied any involvement in their daughter's disappearance, as has the other named suspect in the case, British expat Robert Murat.

It is not clear whether his arguido status would be affected if the case was to be shelved.

The property consultant, 34, has repeatedly asked to be cleared.

Meanwhile the board of directors of the £1.2million Find Madeleine fund met yesterday in Leicester.

They discussed the fund's finances but did not consider whether to renew the £50,000-a-month contract of the private detective agency Metodo 3 when it expires next month.

The fund currently has £540,000 in its coffers and is expected to run dry by summer, Mr Mitchell said.