The holiday apartment from which Madeline McCann was abducted is to be handed back to its owners after Portuguese police said there was no chance of finding further clues.

The two-bedroom apartment on the Ocean Club complex in Praia da Luz has been sealed off by police and regarded as a crime scene since Madeleine disappeared from the front bedroom five weeks ago.

But by yesterday afternoon police had removed the tape and portable station that had sealed off the ground-floor apartment. The only sign of Madeleine’s abduction was the red fingerprint powder on the shutter of the bedroom where she had been asleep and the yellow bows and wilted flowers tied to the gate.

Chief Inspector Olegario Sousa of the Policia Judiciaria (PJ) said: “Everything that we could do there has already been done. All the fingerprints and the traces to define the DNA have already been collected.” Altpio Ribeiro, national director of the PJ, said: “The PJ are seriously investigating this case. It could take time, more or less, but we continue in the Algarve even if our presence is not noticed.”

Mr and Mrs McCann had expressed “frustration” at the early stages of the police investigation but have since praised efforts of Portuguese officers.

Mr McCann said: “We have no doubts of the desire of the Portuguese police to find Madeleine. We have witnessed their efforts first-hand and they are working harder than Kate and I.”

However, the couple have acknowledged that they have found it difficult understanding the cultural differences between policing in Portugal and Britain.

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