Detectives investigating the disappearance of three-year-old Madeleine McCann early today told her parents that they were both now formally suspected of involvement in their daughter's death. Yesterday they apparently offered her mother, Kate, a deal if she confessed to accidentally killing the child.
The news that both parents had been declared suspects came shortly after midnight, when Gerry McCann emerged from the police headquarters in Portimao, near the Mark Warner resort where the family had been on holiday.
Mrs McCann had been released earlier in the day, following two days of questioning totalling 16 hours.
Their lawyer, Carlos Pinto de Abreu, said: "Gerry and Kate McCann have both today been declared arguido, with no bail conditions. No charges have been brought against them. The investigation continues."
A family spokesman said the couple remain "committed to their innocence".
Mrs McCann, 39, had been questioned over forensic evidence which might suggest that Madeleine had died in the family's apartment at the holiday complex in Praia da Luz, rather than being snatched from her bed while her parents were eating dinner as the couple insist.
The family's spokesman, Justine McGuinness, said she was also asked about traces of blood found in a car hired by the couple four weeks after Madeleine's disappearance on May 3, and about DNA evidence allegedly found on clothing.
"They believe they have evidence to show that in some way she is involved in the death of her daughter, which is completely ludicrous," Ms McGuinness said.
The line detectives were following was that it was Mrs McCann who was primarily responsible for the child's death, she added. Mr McCann was later questioned separately for eight hours.
Friends and family expressed shock and disbelief at the claims. Mr McCann's sister, Philomena, said: "They are suggesting that Kate has in some way accidentally killed Madeleine, then kept her body, then got rid of it. I have never heard anything so utterly ludicrous in my entire life."
She told ITV News: "They tried to get her to confess to having accidentally killed Madeleine by offering her a deal through her lawyer - 'if you say you killed Madeleine by accident and then hid her and disposed of the body, then we can guarantee you a two-year jail sentence or even less'." Mrs McCann had "angrily rejected" the offer and dismissed the allegations as absurd, she said.
The change in the McCanns' legal status came after the results of forensic tests taken from their apartment and car were sent to Portugal from the Forensic Science Service in Birmingham.
When Mrs McCann returned to the police station yesterday, she was confronted with a list of 22 questions, including one in which she was asked if she could explain how traces of Madeleine's blood had been found in a car that the family had hired 25 days after her disappearance.
Mr McCann insisted any suggestion his wife was involved in their daughter's disappearance was "ludicrous".
"Anyone who knows anything about May 3 knows that Kate is completely innocent," he wrote on his blog at the findmadeleine.com website.