British Police Asked To Seize Evidence in McCann Case

British police have reportedly been asked to seize items of evidence from the home of Gerry and Kate McCann.

Sky News reported that the items police investigating the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine want to examine include Mr McCann's laptop and Madeleine's toy Cuddle Cat, which Mrs McCann has carried almost continuously since the four-year-old disappeared.

It has been reported that police already have Mrs McCann's private diary in their possession. On Thursday afternoon, some Portuguese newspapers reportedly claimed to have seen the diary and have published what they claim are extracts.

Sky News said that a Portuguese judge had signed a warrant for British police to go to the McCann's home in Rothley in Leicestershire.

Meanwhile, it has also been reported that Sir Alec Jeffreys, the inventor of DNA fingerprinting, has offered to act as an expert witness in the case.

Speaking in an interview with BBC's 'Newsnight' programme, Sir Alec said that DNA matches alone could not establish guilt or innocence and warned that all Madeleine's genetic characteristics would be found in at least one member of the McCann family, all of whom had been in the Portuguese hire car where forensic evidence was discovered.

The DNA evidence was discovered in a car, hired by the McCanns three weeks after Madeleine disappeared from their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in Portugal's Algarve on May 3.

It had originally reported that the DNA found in the car was a 100% match with the missing four-year-old, but Portuguese officials have played down these reports.

Both Mr and Mrs McCann, both 39, were named as formal suspects - or 'arguidos' - in the case last week, although they were allowed to leave Portugal to return to the UK on Sunday.

A Portuguese judge is studying a dossier on the case and reviewing the evidence against the McCanns, which was passed to him by prosecutor Jose Cunha de Magalhaes e Menesses. He will decide whether or not charges will be brought against the couple.

It was revealed on Wednesday that money raised for the Find Madeleine fund will not be used to pay for any of the couple's legal costs.

The McCanns had not asked to be allowed to use the money for that purpose, the fund's directors stressed.

It also emerged on Thursday that a US film has had its planned release in the UK postponed indefinitely because of similarities to the Madeleine McCann case. 'Gone Baby Gone', actor Ben Affleck's directorial debut, was due to be released in the UK by Buena Vista International on December 28, but the plans have been shelved.

The movie, which stars Ben's brother Casey and Morgan Freeman, is based on the 1998 novel by Dennis Lehane and follows two private detectives who assist a police investigation into a missing child.

(KMcA/SP)