McCanns 'fear the worst'

Relations between Portuguese police and the McCanns are under strain after a senior officer went on TV to reveal four-year-old Madeleine could be dead - without telling her family first.

A family friend of Kate and Gerry McCann, from Rothley, Leicestershire, said it was "extraordinary" that police had "not had the decency" to contact the couple before giving the interview.

It is understood the McCanns were particularly distressed that Chief Inspector Olegario Sousa chose to make his comments on the 100th day since Madeleine went missing.

But a family spokeswoman said it was "heartening" that he officially confirmed they were not considered as suspects after a painful week of "hurtful" allegations in Portuguese papers suggesting they were now under suspicion.

British sniffer dogs have discovered a second blood speck on a curtain in the McCanns' holiday apartment in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz, an unconfirmed report claimed.

The sample has been sent along with another trace of blood found elsewhere in the flat to a British laboratory to undergo DNA testing, the Portuguese newspaper Jornal de Noticias said.

The test results, expected this week, could lend weight to the theory that Madeleine is dead - although equally they may boost her parents' belief she was abducted alive, or simply be inconclusive.

Mr McCann appeared to be considering the possibility that she was dead when he told the BBC's Heaven and Earth programme if "the worst possible thing happens", he would be comforted by his faith that Madeleine was "in a better place".

As he and his wife spoke of their continued hope their daughter would be found alive, Mr Sousa said new evidence suggesting she was killed was being investigated with "intensity", telling 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."