Portugal’s
attorney general said yesterday he will make a crunch
decision on Monday that will decide their fate.
After
receiving advice from prosecutors, the legal chief
Fernando Pinto Monteiro will announce what happens next
over the police investigation into Madeleine’s
disappearance.
“The
Maddie case will have a solution on Monday, and you will
be informed of it,” he said.
He will
choose whether to bring charges, ask police to carry out
even more inquiries or close the case for good. The
decision could finally clear Gerry and Kate McCann of
all blame and end the whispering campaign against them.
A source
said: “Clearing their names at last will be a big weight
off their minds if it happens – but they are still no
closer to the truth on where their daughter is.”
Madeleine
vanished from the family's holiday apartment at Praia da
Luz, Portugal, just days before her fourth birthday on
May 3 last year.
Her
disappearance sparked one of the biggest investigations
into a missing person ever seen in Europe.
But
despite a huge search, no trace has ever been found.
Recent reports in Portugal have suggested Kate and Gerry
could remain “arguido” forever.
Their
spokesman Clarence Mitchell said shelving the case would
be the “worst possible
scenario”.
He said:
“It is what Kate and Gerry have always feared – that
police would simply wrap the case up saying they could
not do any more, without clearing Madeleine's parents of
any involvement.”
Kate and
Gerry, both 40, from Rothley, Leics, have faced more
than a year of anguish as they have struggled to come to
terms with life without Madeleine. For the sake of their
three-year-old twins, Sean and Amelie, they have tried
to keep up a pretence of a normal life while travelling
round the world to drum up support for their campaign to
find their daughter.
They
recently spoke of their agony at taking their first
family holiday without Madeleine, claiming it was
“incredibly difficult”.
The
heartbroken couple have also managed to find the time to
campaign for a US-style “Amber Alert” scheme to help
stop child disappearances.
The source
added: “They have been worried that blundering
Portuguese police would try and write off the case as
unsolved – but they are determined not to let that
happen.”