Madeleine McCann’s parents will be told next month what evidence the police have to make them official suspects in her disappearance, it was announced yesterday.

Portuguese Attorney-General, Fernando Jose Pinto Monteiro said Kate and Gerry McCann will be given full access to the case files relating to their daughter’s disappearance last May.

The police inquiry into Madeleine’s disappearance shortly before her fourth birthday covers homicide, abandonment, concealment of a corpse and abduction. All evidence in the investigation has until now been covered by strict laws of judicial secrecy.

However, Mr Monteiro told the 24 Horas newspaper: “In July, the process stops being covered by the judicial secrecy."

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This will mean that the thousands of pages of witness statements and other evidence will be made available to the McCanns and their lawyers before being opened to the press and public

Mr Monteiro said that the disclosure of the evidence would not affect the ongoing investigations or possibility of changes.

“We won't rest until the child is found,” he said. “The fact that the judicial secrecy is lifted has nothing to do with the development of the investigations.”

The opening of the files will be welcomed by Mr and Mrs McCann, from Rothley, Leicestershire. They have insisted there is absolutely no evidence against them and the police should concentrate their investigation on stranger abduction.

Mr and Mrs McCann were dining with a group of British friends at a tapas restaurant on the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz when Madeleine was reported missing from her bedroom.

The couple, from Rothley, Leicestershire, hope the release of the files will lead to the lifting of their status as arguidos (official suspects) imposed last September. Robert Murat, 34, the other official suspect, will also have access to the evidence which he hopes will clear his name.

However, the release of the information could be delayed for several weeks as Portuguese judiciary starts a month-long holiday in the middle of July.

The announcement came as Mr and Mrs McCann embarked on a series of meetings with MEPs in Strasbourg in a renewed effort to secure backing for a Europe-wide child abduction alert system.

The couple have until July 24 - the close of the plenary session - to collect the signatures needed to ensure that their proposal, in the form of a written declaration, is sent to the EU President and published.

They have chalked up 225 signatures so far, leaving them another 168 to collect.

Mr McCann said: “This is an important issue and Europe needs to work together. We want to get as many signatures as possible but there’s limited time left.”

The couple launched the drive for a United States-style Amber Alert in April, but now fear time is running out in their bid to achieve formal recognition of the scheme.

Such a declaration carries no legal weight in the European Union but the McCanns believe it would help them win the moral argument over whether such a cross-border system is needed.

The couple believe a European version of Amber Alert - which notifies the public via media across the US when police confirm a child has been abducted - would have helped the search for their daughter in the crucial hours after her disappearance.

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