Madeleine McCann may still be alive: police

A three-year-old British girl who hit headlines in the Britain and other European countries for several months after she was kidnapped in Portugal nearly six years ago could be still alive, British police revealed on Sunday.

Quoted by British newspapers, police said they had just identified a number of suspects who could have taken Madeleine McCann while with her parents on holiday in Portugal.

Scotland Yard detectives said they handed the names to their Portuguese counterparts and asked them to reopen the investigation into the girl’s abduction.

The man leading the Metropolitan Police’s £two-million review into the kidnapping, “Operation Grange”, insisted Madeleine could still be alive and believes it is “perfectly probable” ­information which could identify her abductor lies within local crime files.

 “There is more than a handful of people of interest which could be ­properly explored further, if only to be eliminated. The key things are to investigate the case and our work is happening to support the Portuguese.” Detective Chief Superintendent Hamish Campbell said, quoted by the Daily Mirror newspaper.

 “The purpose of the review was to look at the case with fresh eyes and there is always real benefit in doing so. The review has further identified both investigative and forensic opportunities to support the Portuguese. Of course, there is a possibility she is alive, you cannot exclude it. But the key is to investigate the case and, alive or dead, we should be able to try to discern what happened. The purpose of the review is to look at it with fresh eyes. There has been real benefit in doing it.”

Her parents, Gerry and Kate, both 45-year-old doctors, welcomed the news and the paper said they both “feel like something is finally being done to solve what happened to their daughter and find her.”

The couple from central town of Rothley in Leicestershire were both considered suspects themselves in the weeks after their daughter vanished from their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in May 2007 as they dined out with friends nearby.

Portuguese police dropped their ­suspicions after grilling the pair for two days. The bungled hunt for Madeleine was formally shelved in 2008.

But Scotland Yard launched “Operation Grange” in 2011 after Home Secretary Theresa May responded to a plea from the McCanns to find what happened to their daughter.