The Madeleine McCann case has a number of new suspects after Scotland Yard investigators drew up a list of “people of interest” they are seeking in connection to the girl’s 2007 disappearance.
Scotland Yard initiated a review of the Madeleine McCann case in 2011 in an attempt to revive the cast of the missing toddler, who disappeared while her parents were on vacation in Portugal.
“The purpose of the review was to look at the case with fresh eyes and there is always real benefit in doing so,” said Detective Chief Superintendent Hamish Campbell. “The review has further identified both investigative and forensic opportunities to support the Portuguese.”
Over the course of the last six years there have been many developments and dead ends in the Madeleine McCann case. Recently authorities in New Zealand conducted DNA testing on a girl that members of the public twice identified as McCann. The testing confirmed the girl was not Madeleine.
Police have continued to operate on the assumption that Madeleine McCann could still be alive.
Not all of the Madeleine McCann suspects are expected to bring new leads to the cast, Campbell added. Some are being reviewed in order to eliminate suspects and whittle the list of possible suspects.
A spokesman for the McCann family said the girl’s parents, Kate and Gerry, are encouraged by the work but would not comment on specifics of the case.
The original investigation into Madeleine McCann’s disappearance by Portuguese authorities drew widespread criticism. Police were blamed for spending too much time on her parents, who were later cleared as suspects when the attorney general rules they had no connection to their daughter’s disappearance.
The Portuguese officials went on to close the case in 2008.
The word of new Madeleine McCann suspects comes as the girl’s 10th birthday just passed.
