Police 'to make UK arrest' in Madeleine McCann case

The hunt for missing Madeleine McCann has entered a "decisive phase", with an arrest in Britain possible in the coming days, it was reported today.

It is 109 days since the four-year-old was snatched from her bed in her family's holiday apartment in the Algarve seaside village of Praia da Luz.

The police investigation has shifted direction in recent weeks, with British detectives and sniffer dogs being sent to Portugal to help with the inquiry.

Preliminary DNA tests on blood specks found by the dogs in the McCanns' apartment revealed they came from a man, The Times reported last week.

The full forensic results will be returned "imminently" - possibly today, according to reports.

A spokeswoman for the Forensic Science Service (FSS) in Birmingham, which is carrying out the analysis of the samples, said only that the tests were still "ongoing".

It is unclear whether detectives are close to a breakthrough in the case, partly because of Portugal's strict "secrecy of justice" laws, which severely restrict what police can say publicly.

Last week Alipio Ribeiro, national director of the Portuguese Policia Judiciaria (PJ), which is leading the investigation, said his force had "no idea" where Madeleine was and warned there was "a long way to go".

But unconfirmed reports in Portuguese and British papers today suggest that police will step up the hunt for the young girl this week by launching a series of new searches.

And a possible suspect is under surveillance in Britain and could be arrested within days, the Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manha claimed.

The paper said the return of the DNA test results from the FSS meant today could be "decisive" for the investigation.

Meanwhile, donations to the fund set up by Kate and Gerry McCann, from Rothley, Leicestershire, to help find Madeleine have now topped £1 million.

In his latest blog entry on the official campaign website, www.findmadeleine.com, Mr McCann wrote: "We would like to thank everyone who has donated to the fund and we will ensure that no stone is left unturned in the search for Madeleine...

"The establishment of the fund, which was created in response to so many people offering financial assistance, lifted a huge weight off our shoulders.

"Madeleine's fund allows us to make decisions regarding our search for Madeleine for the right reasons - with the board's approval of course - and not out of financial necessity.

"We did hope that the main objective of the fund would have been fulfilled long before now."

Mr and Mrs McCann are starting to think about returning to the UK with their two-year-old twins, Sean and Amelie, a family spokeswoman said.

The couple have remained in Praia da Luz since Madeleine went missing on May 3, leaving Portugal only to publicise the campaign to find her and for a family christening in Britain.

The McCanns have rented a house on the outskirts of the village until the middle of September.

But they have not yet set a date to come back to Britain and will not necessarily return from Portugal next month.

If Madeleine is still missing, they will continue to travel back to the Algarve regularly to help police.

The family spokeswoman said: "They are starting the process of thinking about coming home. They haven't made any decision."

She stressed this was not a reaction to "hurtful" unconfirmed allegations in the Portuguese press in recent weeks suggesting that Madeleine was dead and her parents could be involved.

The money raised for Madeleine's Fund pays for everything from posters and yellow-and-green wristbands to the McCanns' campaign manager.

It has been reported that Portuguese police plan to re-interview a pensioner who says she disturbed an intruder in her apartment directly above the McCanns' holiday flat two weeks before Madeleine vanished.

This is not the first report of a break-in at the Ocean Club complex in Praia da Luz in recent months.

One Briton who owns a flat just 100m from the McCanns' apartment said today he suspected there were "a lot" of opportunistic burglaries in the resort.

Ian Robertson, from Neyland in Pembrokeshire, South Wales, experienced a break-in at his Ocean Club apartment, which is identical in layout to the McCanns', in February.

The burglars entered the property at dusk and stole two mobile phones, a camera and some money.

Police discovered no signs of forced entry, although the thieves left the patio doors and a lounge window open.

When Mr Robertson reported the burglary to police in nearby Lagos, he met a woman who also lived in the Ocean Club who was there to complain about a second break-in at her property.

He later discovered that two of his neighbours with ground-floor flats - like the McCanns' apartment - had also suffered burglaries.

Mr Robertson said: "I have a feeling there has been a lot of this type of opportunistic burglary.

"I think they have been getting away with it for a long time."

Asked what he thought about reports that Portuguese police are investigating whether Madeleine was abducted by burglars, Mr Robertson said: "It wouldn't surprise me because it's so wide open, so unprotected - could there have been an order to snatch a child?"

There are rumours locally that Romanian drug addicts are involved in the burglaries, he said, although this has not been confirmed.

After Madeleine vanished, Mr Robertson spoke to a British detective seconded to help Portuguese police, but he has otherwise not been interviewed.

He said: "I would really like to know how many reported break-ins there have been in that complex in the last 12 months."

Copyright Press Association 2007

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