Leicester MercuryMcCanns meet Home Secretary to discuss missing daughter MadeleineMonday, March 08, 2010, 09:30
Kate and Gerry McCann have met Home Secretary Alan Johnson to discuss the search for their missing daughter Madeleine.
The meeting has led to speculation that the entire Madeleine McCann case will be reviewed and police will be asked to look again at all the evidence.
A spokesman for the Home Office said the couple, from Rothley, had a private meeting with Mr Johnson.
It comes two weeks after Mr and Mrs McCann called on the Home Office to help improve co-operation between Portuguese and UK authorities.
At a press conference held on February 19, they said they felt let down by international protocols which meant that Leicestershire police had to pass any leads to their Portuguese counterparts – who have closed the investigation into Madeleine's disappearance. As a result, they said tip-offs and leads were ignored.
A Home Office spokesman told the Leicester Mercury yesterday: "We can confirm that the Home Secretary had a private meeting with Kate and Gerry McCann.
"Leicestershire police stand ready to co-ordinate and complete inquiries if further information comes to light in the UK, or if requested to do so by the Portuguese authorities, who continue to lead on the overall investigation."
At the press conference, Mr McCann spoke about his desire for a review of the case.
He said: "We want the authorities to work together. It is an international case, and always has been. I think people are reluctant to undertake a review because there's been difficult, sensitive issues.
"But Madeleine's rights should be put first. She's missing, she's innocent and whoever's taken her is still out there, and that has to be of paramount importance."
Madeleine was three when she disappeared from the family's holiday flat in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3, 2007.
Her parents have employed private detectives to help find her.
On Saturday, Mr and Mrs McCann hit out at the release by Portuguese police to British newspapers of previously unseen files on her disappearance.
The 2,000-page dossier detailed dozens of possible sightings of Madeleine, from CCTV footage of a girl resembling her in New Zealand to a report of a small blonde girl being dragged along the road to Faro airport in the Algarve - an hour's drive from Praia da Luz - on the night Madeleine vanished.
A statement released by Kate and Gerry McCann said: "Disclosing such information publicly greatly jeopardises the search for Madeleine and puts witnesses and innocent members of the general public at risk (as well as causing them great anxiety).
"Release and publication of information in this manner also potentially compromises future investigations. It is difficult to see how anyone benefits from this week's actions."
