UK police still hope to find missing Madeleine alive

LONDON - Missing girl Madeleine McCann, who vanished while on a family vacation in Portugal five years ago may be alive, UK police said Wednesday. 
London's Metropolitan Police said they are still investigating the disappearance of the girl, who vanished shortly before her fourth birthday in May 2007 from a condo at a resort while her parents ate at a restaurant nearby.

The police have also released a new image of the girl created in cooperation with the family that shows how Madeline might look at age 9. Her ninth birthday is May 12.


Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood said he is leading a team of more than 30 police officers who are focusing on the case.


Portugal police closed their investigation in 2008 but Scotland Yard says it wants the case reopened. An investigative review was formed in May 2011 and has been going through case details.


Investigators are now searching through about 100,000 pages of information for more details. Redwood and his offers are reportedly reviewing all the evidence that has been gathered so far by British and Portuguese police. They are also looking at evidence obtained by private investigators hired by McCann's parents.


"As a result of evidence uncovered during the review, they now believe there is a possibility Madeleine is still alive and are appealing for anyone who is able to provide direct information as to her whereabouts to contact the team," police said in a statement. "Officers have so far identified around 195 such opportunities within the historic material, and are also developing what they believe to be genuinely new material."


Despite numerous reported sightings from Belgium and Spain to Morocco, France and Malta and investigations stretching as far as Australia, her whereabouts remain a mystery.


The McCanns were named as official suspects by Portuguese police four months after their daughter's disappearance but in 2008 they were cleared and Portugal's public prosecutor later dropped the case citing a lack of any evidence.


The McCanns had won 550,000 pounds ($888,000) in damages from two British newspapers who suggested they had killed Madeleine, while their friends - known as the "Tapas 7" - also won large payouts over claims they had lied about the abduction.


Last year, the McCanns wrote to British Prime Minister David Cameron saying neither the British nor Portuguese officials were doing enough to find their daughter and that only private investigators they had hired were still following their case.


Cameron subsequently ordered a new probe by London police who are working through 40,000 pieces of material and documents, and have issued a computer-generated photograph showing how Madeleine might look now as her ninth birthday approaches.


Redwood, who has been to Portugal seven times on the case, declined to give details about any possible suspects, or sightings, although he said these form part of the new findings.

He said he would not be drawn on any hypothesis of where Madeleine might be if alive and that police were giving equal weight in their review to the notion she was dead.