McCann case detectives 'fly to UK'

Three officers have arrived in Britain ahead of a fresh interrogation of Kate and Gerry McCann, according to the Evening Standard.

The couple, both 39, returned to their home in Rothley, Leicestershire, last week after spending four months in Portugal awaiting developments.

The newspaper said the officers wanted Leicestershire Police to put the questions to the McCanns, who have been declared official suspects in the case although they deny any involvement in her disappearance or death.

"The Portuguese police will not be asking the McCanns questions directly but will be providing a list of questions that the Leicestershire Police should ask," the paper quoted a source close to the investigation as saying.

But a spokeswoman for the McCanns said: "To date we have had no contact from them, no request, nothing like that... if they are on their way, they have in no way let the family or the legal team know."

The McCanns have repeatedly said they believe the four-year-old, who went missing from their holiday apartment in Praia Da Luz on the Algarve on May 3, could still be alive.

They appeared outside their Rothley home flanked by Clarence Mitchell, the former director of the Government's Central Office of Information's media monitoring unit, who quit the top post to work as their spokesman.

Mr Mitchell worked with the McCanns in Portugal in May and was instrumental in spearheading the launch of their global publicity campaign which has made Madeleine's face one of the most recognised in the world.

Few outside their friends and family spent more time with Gerry and Kate McCann in the days and weeks after their eldest child's apparent abduction in Portugal than him.