It has been reported that the Portuguese police a) wish to re-interview Mrs McCann and b) would need a confession to establish guilt. In my view, any further questioning must now occur in England. The risk of Mrs McCann being placed under intolerable pressures if she returns to Portugal (eg by then being detained there and separated from normal contact with her twins) seems too high. The last thing this case needs is a false confession through effective duress. I would therefore not regard any eventual insistence on being further questioned on home territory as indicative of guilt but as simple common sense. I hope that such a position would be unequivocally supported by the British government.

Matthew Wright, Woking, England

If the DNA suggets that Madeline was regularly sedated, I feel so sorry for that little girl. The McCanns would be guilty of cruelty to her.

John, Texas, USA

May God Almighty have mercy on them and free them from these silly trials.

Farrukh, Woking, UK

Hopefully, the McCanns media advisers will advise them to stay out of the media. Enough is enough.

Janet, Preston, England

The intense speculation over 'did they' or 'didn't they' must be tearing the McCann family apart. It is enough for any person to have their young child disappear without trace, and to not know if they will ever see her alive again. but all of the recent specualtion as to did they kill her, and now the speculation over how she was supposed to have been kiled and subsequently disposed of, by her own parents, does not bear thinking of. My heart goes out to the McCann family. the constant uncertainty surrounding Maddie (alive or dead); will they face charges; will they lose their children; will they lose their home; will they lose their careers; all of this would make my head explode if it was happening to me. I say to the McCann family, well done for conducting yourselves with such dignity and grace. For every person who believes that you are guilty, there are many more who believe in your innocence, and have total empathy for your terrible situation. God's grace be with you.

D. Hunter, North Yorkshire, UK

'It was reported yesterday that the Forensice Science Service .........'

Reported by who?
Is this source credible?
If not, this is just reporting more rumour?

Teresa G, Colchester, UK

So the theory now is that after concealing a decomposing body for 25 days it was placed in the car and driven to a yacht and dumped out at sea ?
I could believe the basics if not for one foul smelling body.

nicky, gibraltar,

If convictions could be secured by body language alone the McCanns would be serving life behind bars. I encourage any reader to google image pictures of the McCanns. They do not look like parents in grief or shock - and never have. They wear guilty expressions on their faces in every photo shot. They avert their eyes from the camera and constantly knit their brows - key body language indicators that they are not telling the truth.

Zoe Kerr, London, England

What about the local social services ? What are they doing ?
I think that many hints could be easily understood looking at Mrs. Cann daily life. What about going back on maddy's school teacher ? Or her little buddies at school ? Mrs Mc Cann best friend ? All the other mothers meeting her during the parents school meetings? Her hairdresser? The midwife halping her during the pregnancies? If , I say again, If, mrs. Mc Cann is such a psychically unstable person , I am sure that this " feature" should have been noticed by someone else, in other occasions and probably well under valued.

Luciana, Rome, Italy

I agree with Trevor Lyttleton's fear. But in general everything that keeps a missing person in the public's mind increases the likelyhood of the abductee being found, hopefully alive. The articles are a long way from being sensitive to the family and that should change.

I'm also sad that the Portugese police apparently did not even respond to the UK Police's offers of further assistance.

Chris Clark, Ruislip Manor, UK

Why is the Forensix Science Service in Birningham giving the press this information about sedation??? This should be highly confidential as it only serves to whip up the gossip.
And there appears to have been no attempt to find out who had the car before the McCanns. The poor woman looks utterly exhausted. This is the cruelest turn of events imaginable, down soley to the fact that the Police did not seek to investigate and clear the parents from enquiries at the outset of the investigation. Now everything is made to look suspicious.

CA, Manchester, England

An investigation should have started here in the early days anyway. Is it only me who thinks that, given their work, their child may have been abducted by someone from Britain who has followed them out there? It's only logical to trace the steps of their whole journey and any unusual events before too.

If I were a police officer I would be going through their patient's records long ago.

I agree with Trevor Lyttleton, the publicity is counter productive. If she is still alive the abductor is unlikely to release her with so much publicity.

Speaking of logic, why would the parents chose to use that moment, and wide public condemnation for leaving them alone, if they had killed her? After all. if she was already dead they would have had many more ‘less life destroying’ moments to declare her missing.

ukphotolady, Midlands, UK

The tragedy of this case may turn out to be that the limelight created by the media frenzy it has engendered, has forced Madelein's abductor to kill and dispose of her body

The Press should therefore stop their counter-productive speculation and let the Portugese authorities get on with and complryr their investigation before pontificating further.

Trevor Lyttleton MBE, London,