Because they were suspected: the Portuguese police apologize to Maddie’s parents

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Even sixteen years after her disappearance, the case of Madeleine ‘Maddie’ McCann continues to make headlines. It is still unclear what happened to the then three-year-old girl. The Portuguese police have now apologized to the British woman’s parents, the BBC reports.

The reason for the apology: Kate and Gerry McCann (both 55) were suspected at the start of the investigation of having something to do with their daughter’s disappearance.

Police suggested a deal with Kate McCann

Early this year, a delegation of senior police officers traveled from Lisbon to London. They met with Maddie’s father and asked for forgiveness for the way the family had been treated and the way the case had been investigated.

As part of the investigation, the parents were declared suspects in September 2007. Her daughter had previously disappeared from the room in a Portuguese holiday apartment in the Algarve. The researchers’ position at the time: the couple allegedly staged a kidnapping and hid their daughter’s body. Kate McCann is even said to have gotten a deal. She must admit to her daughter’s death in exchange for a shorter sentence. The suspect status was only lifted in 2008.

Maddie would be 20 years old today

Goncalo Amaral, 64, then the chief investigator, was later relieved of the investigation and later wrote a book accusing the McCanns of being involved in their daughter’s disappearance. A lawsuit by the McCanns for defamation was unsuccessful in Portugal or at the European Court of Justice.

Nowadays, researchers believe that the German Christian B.* (46) is behind the child’s disappearance. He is currently in prison in Germany for raping a woman (72) in the Algarve and denies having anything to do with Maddie’s disappearance.

Hans Christian Wolters, one of the German prosecutors in charge of the investigation against B., hopes to be able to stop it next year. “We believe he was involved in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann and we believe he murdered Madeleine McCann,” the BBC quoted him as saying.

Maddie’s parents have not yet responded to the Portuguese researchers’ apology. The missing person, if still alive, would now be twenty years old. On the occasion of her birthday this year, her parents vowed to ‘never give up’ the search.

*Name known

Source: Blick