Kate McCann 'may be quizzed in UK'

Kate and Gerry McCann's lawyers issued a statement saying they had received no request for new questioning "to date".

But for a third day, Portuguese newspapers reported that police and prosecutors in the Algarve planned to ask their British counterparts to quiz Mrs McCann for them.

The judge in the case, Pedro Daniel dos Anjos Frias, rejected prosecutors' request to have the McCanns brought back to Portugal for further questioning, according to the Correio da Manha.

A letter of appeal will now be sent to Britain, setting out the new questions Portuguese detectives want to ask the couple, the paper reported.

Another paper suggested these comprised about 40 questions Mrs McCann previously refused to answer during interviews in Portugal.

Portuguese officers are understood to be keen to sit in on any interviews in the UK as observers. But an unnamed source told the Correio da Manha there was only a "very low" probability this would happen.

There is speculation about when any interviews would take place, with some papers suggesting they could be as early as Tuesday or Wednesday.

But Portugal's Jornal de Noticias said fresh interrogations would not be carried out until police have received final forensic test results on samples from the McCanns' holiday apartment.

A McCann family spokeswoman said: "We have been in touch with the lawyers to try and get a steer on what is in the Portuguese papers. They assure us we have had no request to date for any further questioning, either from the Portuguese police or in the UK."