Gerry McCann sent and received 14 text messages on the night Madeleine disappeared, Portuguese TV reported last night.

The consultant cardiologist was said to have exchanged the messages on his mobile phone during dinner with friends on May 3, before Madeleine was found to be missing.

Portuguese police have asked for the mobile phone records of the 39-year-old and his wife Kate but have not yet received them.

The text message claim was made by the Portuguese channel RTP, which offered no explanation about who Mr McCann had contacted.

Requests for the McCanns' mobile phone records are among a series of letters of appeal drawn up by the Portuguese police.

But the public prosecutor Jose Magalhaese Meneses has refused to give his approval for the letters to be sent to British authorities until he sees stronger evidence against the couple.

The McCann's spokesman Clarence Mitchell refused to comment on issues directly linked to the investigation.

The family has however been given some fresh hope after DNA tests concluded there was no proof the four-year-old was dead.

Tests on samples taken from Kate and Gerry McCann's apartment have failed to find any evidence that their daughter died there.

The results from Portugal's police laboratory support the couple's belief that Madeleine was abducted.

Scientists at the laboratory in Lisbon have also failed to find any evidence implicating the parents in her disappearance.

A source said: "Numerous DNA tests were carried out upon hair, as well as analysis of traces belonging to the McCann couple and their twins.

"But nothing allows us to say that the little girl died in that apartment as no sample was gathered which can point in that direction."

Portuguese police say they are still waiting on results from some tests carried out by the Forensic Science Service in Birmingham. Results received so far have proved inconclusive.

The Lisbon police laboratory source said detectives had not asked for toxicology tests to determine if Madeleine or the McCanns' twins Sean and Amelie were sedated - a claim their parents have always denied.

The development means the Portuguese police are entirely reliant on the Forensic Science Service tests to provide any DNA breakthrough in the case.

But preliminary results from the Birmingham lab are said to have been inconclusive.

The independent laboratory has refused to comment on its findings, but leaks from inside the service have varied from reports that they have found no evidence against the McCanns to claims that they have found compelling "proof" of their involvement.

Last week there were claims that traces of Madeleine's DNA had been found in their Renault Scenic, which was rented 25 days after the girl went missing.

Analysis was said to have shown that bodily fluids found in the silver Renault came from a body and not from a live person.

But in the same week the police said it would take "a miracle" for them to build a case against the McCanns and the Portuguese public prosecutor said he would not ask for them to be re-interviewed as there was not enough evidence to implicate them.

An FSS spokeswoman said their analysis was "still ongoing" and said their tests had not been completed. Family spokesman Clarence Mitchell refused to comment.