Portuguese police to hand Madeleine case to prosecutor

LISBON, Portugal, Sep 11 (Reuters) Portuguese police were due to hand a file with evidence against the parents of missing 4-year-old Madeleine McCann today to the public prosecutor, who will decide whether to charge them.

Gerry and Kate McCann returned to Britain on Sunday after police named them as suspects in their daughter's disappearance on May 3 in the Algarve but no restrictions were imposed upon them.

Police spokesman Olegario de Sousa said it was ''agreed with the prosecutor'' that the file would be handed over early today, he was quoted as saying by the Lusa news agency. He had earlier said the report would be ready yesterday.

A spokeswoman for the prosecutor in Lisbon said a statement would be issued today regarding the investigation.

The report is expected to include interviews with the McCanns and details of forensic evidence from various sites in the Praia da Luz resort where Madeleine vanished while on holiday.

''The prosecutor will then have to decide whether he has enough evidence to charge the McCanns or whether the police need to carry out more inquiries or gather more evidence,'' De Sousa told Reuters earlier.

He would not discuss details of the evidence, in accordance with Portugal's secrecy laws in criminal investigations.

If the prosecutor decides there is sufficient evidence to impose conditions on the McCanns or even charge them with involvement in Madeleine's disappearance, he could ask that the couple return to Portugal and possibly then order their arrest.

But it could also decide there is insufficient evidence to do anything and may ask police investigators to find more evidence. The Madeleine case can remain open for about eight months, according to Portuguese law.

MCCANNS WILLING TO RETURN Gerry and Kate McCann, both 39, have consulted lawyers in Britain after Portuguese police declared them formal suspects on Friday, Madeleine's aunt, told the BBC on Monday.

Detectives questioned the couple for hours but did not charge them. Police changed their line of inquiry after receiving partial results of forensic tests on evidence collected from various sites, including their holiday apartment.

Kate McCann told a Sunday newspaper detectives pressured her to confess to having accidentally killed her daughter.

''They want me to lie. I am being framed,'' she was quoted as saying in the Sunday Mirror. ''They are basically saying, 'If you confess Madeleine had an accident and that I panicked ... I'd get two or three years' suspended sentence.' It is ridiculous.

The worst nightmare.'' The couple are at home in the village of Rothley, in central England, with crowds of journalists camped outside.

However, they are ready to face more questioning in Portugal and will fly back from time to time regardless of the police investigation, Madeleine's aunt Philomena McCann said.

''They absolutely will co-operate with the police,'' she said.

''They are more than prepared to undergo more questioning.'' She told the BBC: ''The Portuguese have turned this investigation round and they are no longer looking for a live child; they are assuming on spurious evidence that Madeleine is now dead.

''We don't agree with that in any shape or form. We want the investigation changed round to look for Madeleine alive, as we reckon she is.'' REUTERS TB RN0547