Maddie's parents 'victims of witch-hunt'

Published on Sunday 21 October 2007 01:03

THE parents of missing Madeleine McCann are the victims of a "witch-hunt" and there is no evidence to suggest they murdered their daughter, Britain's former top police officer has claimed.

Former Metropolitan Police chief Lord Stevens said there was no hard evidence because of the "sheer inadequacy" of the Portuguese investigation. He said: "There's absolutely no chance the parents of Madeleine McCann would be charged with her murder in this country.

"I've been a detective at the most senior level for 30 years and have never seen such a witch-hunt, or one based on such flimsy evidence."

He said Portuguese police should have immediately treated the McCanns as the e suspects, adding: "That police error has become their tragedy now, because if they had been properly investigated back then they may well have been cleared."

He believed abduction was the most likely explanation for what had happened to the youngster, who vanished from the family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on May 3.

Lord Stevens retired as Metropolitan Police commissioner in 2005 after five years in the post and more than 40 years in the force. He then headed inquiries into the circumstances surrounding the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown last week spoke to his Portuguese counterpart Jose Socrates about the missing four-year-old during the EU summit in Lisbon.