Family and police link 'strained'

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Exactly 100 days after she disappeared from the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz, investigators acknowledged for the first time that she could be dead.

As Kate and Gerry McCann clung to the hope their daughter will be found alive, Chief Inspector Olegario Sousa said new evidence suggesting she was killed was being investigated with "intensity".

He told the BBC: "In these past few days, there have been some developments, and some clues have been found, that could point in a possible death of the little child. But till the moment, and we are waiting for the lab results of the evidence that has been collected, all the lines are open."

This appears to be a reference to sniffer dogs' discovery of blood specks on a wall in the McCanns' holiday flat. The samples have been sent to Britain for DNA tests, which are expected to be returned early this week.

A McCann family friend said it was "extraordinary" the police had "not had the decency" to tell the couple they now believed Madeleine could be dead before stating it in an on-the-record interview.

Mr Sousa also said the McCanns and the seven friends with them on holiday when Madeleine disappeared on May 3 were not considered suspects - contrary to unconfirmed reports in Portuguese papers last week suggesting they were now under suspicion.

The senior officer's comments appear to contradict the message that the McCanns, from Rothley, Leicestershire, have been receiving from the investigators. On Tuesday Mrs McCann said police had told her only the previous week that they were "looking for a living child".

The rift with the police added to the couple's pain as they marked the grim 100-day milestone. Mr and Mrs McCann sought strength in prayer at the end of one of the worst weeks they have experienced since four-year-old Madeleine went missing.

In a video specially recorded for a new section on the YouTube website to help find missing children, the McCanns appealed for authorities to tighten up international laws on child abduction and abuse.