Portugal police suspect Madeleine was murdered

LISBON, Aug 7 (Reuters) Portuguese police have found traces of blood on the wall of the apartment where four-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann went missing and now fear she might have been murdered, a local newspaper reported today.

Police seem increasingly convinced that Madeleine was murdered the night she disappeared three months ago and no longer think she was kidnapped, the Diario de Noticias daily cited sources close to the investigation as saying.

However, it was not clear whether the blood belonged to Madeleine as tests have not yet been completed and the newspaper did not say how police had come to the conclusion that the child was murdered.

A police spokesman declined to comment on the report.

''Portuguese police have known for a month that Madeleine McCann was killed that night (May 3) at the apartment in the Praia da Luz resort, having definitely rejected the chance that she may have been kidnapped,'' the newspaper said.

''It is confirmed that there were vestiges of blood found in the apartment occupied by the McCanns,'' Diario de Noticias cited unnamed police sources as saying.

Madeleine went missing from the Praia da Luz resort in the Algarve tourist region on May 3, just yards from where her parents were dining.

Briton Robert Murat, 33, has been identified by police as the main suspect in the investigation and his property has twice been searched.

The daily also said police had identified a second suspect -- a 40-year-old white man -- and were also investigating some friends of the McCann family who were staying at the resort when the girl went missing.

Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, have campaigned relentlessly to draw attention to her disappearance. British business tycoons and celebrities ranging from Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling to soccer stars have contributed to a reward for her return.

There have been a number of possible sightings of Madeleine -- from Morocco to Argentina -- since she went missing but police have come up with no concrete results.

Last week Belgian authorities said they were conducting DNA tests on a bottle and a straw after another possible sighting of the missing girl.

REUTERS SS HS1457