McCanns may face identity parade in Portugal as police weigh up next steps

Police want to call them back for more questioning about the disappearance of their daughter and a possible "confrontation" with witnesses, it was claimed.

Members of the so-called Tapas Nine who dined together on the night Madeleine vanished could also be asked to return to Portugal for meetings and to aid "identification", sources close to the investigation said.

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The move by police is the clearest indication yet that they still consider there are serious allegations for the couple to answer.

Police sources said that three Policia Judiciaria investigators are poised to fly to Britain next week to question the couple and their holiday friends again about missing Madeleine.

A decision will then be taken on whether to recall the McCanns to the Algarve after they are re-interviewed in Britain, the Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manha reported.

Portuguese police have already prepared requests to re-interview the parents and their friends in Britain and a source close to the case told the newspaper: "In the letters which are practically ready and should follow on this week, there may be more things asked other than the questions that will be done there."

The police source added: "When the operations begin on British soil we will determine if it is necessary to bring someone to Portugal.

"It may be necessary to do some identification or confronting of witnesses because it is not certain that all will be interrogated there.

"The decision will be made depending on how the operations go. It is confirmed that the letters will still proceed this week."

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The news is a further crushing blow to the McCanns' hopes of being cleared as suspects.

They had hoped that police would lift their official status as suspects after DNA tests failed to find any evidence that they were involved in Madeleine's disappearance from their holiday apartment. But now it appears that they will face a lengthy re-examination by both British and Portuguese detectives over the coming weeks.

Last week there was a crunch meeting led by the head of the investigation with magistrates and the British Ambassador to Portugal at Faro police station over the letters of appeal.

Ordinarily it can take up to six months before such requests are processed through the diplomatic channels.

But the British Ambassador Alex Ellis is said to have speeded up the process by waving through some of the bureaucracy, although the Foreign Office have denied his direct involvement.

Public prosecutor Jose Cunha Magalhaes e Meneses would have to sanction any move to recall the McCanns, but it is believed he gave the go-ahead at the meeting last week.

Portuguese police are still awaiting the results of further DNA tests on samples of hair and blood taken from the McCanns' holiday apartment and hire car which are being carried out at the Forensic Science Service in Birmingham.

But police don't consider them essential to their requests for re-interviews, it is claimed.

Policia Judiciaria are just waiting for the "green light from the English", another Portuguese daily 24 Horas said.

A legal source told the paper: "The McCanns will not escape a new police interrogation.

"We are making efforts so that the letters of appeal are still authorised this week, they are ready and depending on the bureaucratic procedures."

The interviews will take place at a police station in the UK with Portuguese police being allowed to watch whilst British detectives pose a new series of questions.

Police are said to be particularly keen to interview the Tapas Nine as soon as possible because of the poor quality of DNA evidence in the case.

Fatima Pinheiro, a Portuguese DNA expert, said that it would be very difficult for experts to find the type of genetic material necessary to distinguish Madeleine from her twin siblings Sean and Amelie, two.

She told Correio da Manha that scientists would need to make the distinction if they are to prove the missing four-year-old's body was transported in the boot of her parents' holiday hire car as police believe. Last night close friends of the family dismissed the latest bid by police to recall them to Portugal.

A friend said: "If and when Kate and Gerry's friends are interviewed, nothing will change.

"Nothing will be said to incriminate them in any way.

"They will not need to be called to Portugal because any outstanding discrepancies will be ironed out.

"Nothing suspicious will be said and no one is going to change their story. They will only tell the truth.

"The friends aren't going to say anything which will give them need to call Kate and Gerry back. Nothing substantial will come out of this."

The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell confirmed that they would be available to give statements to the authorities.

"I will not comment on yet further speculation in the Portuguese press", he said.

"If the police want to come over to the UK, then Kate and Gerry and their friends will be more than happy to cooperate.

"In fact, they are keen to help.

"If Kate and Gerry, or indeed any of their friends, are required to go back to Portugal they will be more than happy to comply.

"They will do anything necessary if it helps them move on and be eliminated as suspects."