Maddie investigation still has ‘active lines of inquiry’

Madeleine McCann disappeared exactly 12 years ago, on May 3rd, 2007 from Praia da Luz – she was three years old.

The investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance remains an open case with “active lines of inquiry,” according to Portugal’s Attorney General’s Office which has responded to press questions after an article in Correio da Manhã published today alleged that the Judicial Police is following up on an active line of inquiry.

The PJ has also stated that, “research has been developed in liaison with international authorities, following the rules of judicial and police cooperation, which the circumstances of the situation justify.”

As more than ten years has gone by, Correio da Manhã asked to look at the Madeline investigation paperwork, a request that at first was granted.

Later, a magistrate decided not to authorise any such reading of the documentation, justifying the turnaround as the investigation is, “still with lines of active investigation ” and that any disclosure of case details would be prejudicial.

In May 2017, as ten years had passed since Madeline’s disappearance, then deputy director of the Judicial Police, Pedro do Carmo, said that the case was still open and that the investigation had been delivered to a PJ team in Porto, which was reviewing the case.

At the time, Pedro do Carmo considered that this was “a unique case in the history of the country and the PJ.”

Madeleine was nearly four when she vanished from the apartment in Praia da Luz while her parents dined nearby with friends.

Portuguese police abandoned their investigation after 15 months, as they had found no evidence of what had happened but reopened the investigation in 2012 and at first worked separately to the Metropolitan Police but now share information.